


Eager Ashes

by Beckon



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, Hallucinations, Horror, M/M, Mentions of The Assignment, Minor paranoia, Multi, Nightmares, Sexual Content, Slow Build, Team Bonding, Team Castellanos, Threesome - F/M/M, mentions of body horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 09:23:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 62,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3805180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckon/pseuds/Beckon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were struggling enough as it was to escape Ruvik's mansion, the last thing they needed were more obstacles. But these new problems aren't quite as easy to solve, especially when it's not clear whether they're real or not. And the real problem in them lies in the way they're starting to pile up. </p>
<p>[Story is being rewritten.]</p>
<p>[Tags will be updated as needed.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Brewing

**Author's Note:**

> I know full and well that I'm going to regret posting this story a week before TEW2 comes out but I'm willing to accept the consequences of it. I've been working on re-editing and re-working this story for two months or so now- so if I don't post it now than all of that work will be for nothing.
> 
> I've always loved the idea and premise of this story but unfortunately never got around to finishing it. Never got off chapter three in fact. But with the news of TEW2, I decided to re-visit the story and give it another go. I've only got the first chapter re-edited but I'm super happy with it; it's been reformatted with my current writing style.
> 
> All I can tell you is that the original chapter was around 12K and the new one is around 24K. I'll be splitting them into smaller chapters though, which hopefully won't break the pace of the story. 
> 
> Also I'm going to be tagging this story a little differently than I did before. To prevent a wall of tagging text, I'll be tagging the chapters themselves for the most part, while only tagging the big things onto the story itself.

Kidman felt herself grimace as she bypassed the half-eaten corpse sprawled out on the floor to her right.

She tried to ignore the mess of organs that had been ripped and scooped out of the open stomach cavity, but she felt her gag reflex twitch at the smell of it regardless; she already _knew_ it was there so there was no point in pretending that the carnage didn't exist. She already knew that the hair and skin had been pulled off of the victim's mutilated head- already knew that his skull had been broken and pulled apart by eager fingers. Already knew that the soft brain inside had been torn out in scooped chunks by those same deranged fingers.

Already knew that what blood had been spilled, and there was a lot of it, had already caramelized to the old wooden floorboards underneath.

The smell was rancid and yet it was still fresh.

Despite being disgusted by it, Kidman found herself fighting to pull her attention away from it.

She had plenty of experience with the Haunted so far but she had yet to witness them actually eating someone. Or cannibalizing one of their own. Either or. It wasn't something she had witnessed in the asylum or the church, so to see it here inside of an almost-perfectly normal mansion... It only pushed the already uncomfortable feeling that had been welling up in her chest.

The Victoriano mansion was proving to be just as difficult as the family who once owned it.

Winding corridors, small locked rooms, an array of puzzles, and a library that was built upward only placed more and more barriers in their way. And every new corner only revealed yet another wing of the dilapidated mansion, yet another wing for the three of them to explore- for them to potentially get lost in.

(The sheer size of this place was making her hate it more than the sporadic Haunted who walked the hallways.)

Kidman forced her eyes to follow the metal pipe that ran along the upper portion of the back wall instead, just before it curved up through a hole in the ceiling- disappearing and making it even more difficult to keep track of it.

It had to exit out somewhere though- somewhere in this wing of the mansion.

She still couldn't believe that they were following the damn thing.

After witnessing what the first pipe had been attached to, Kidman wasn't exactly thrilled to see where this one would end up.

(And she knew neither Sebastian nor Joseph would be thrilled either.)

The three of them had arrived at the old Victoriano mansion like someone had simply dropped them off at the iron gates and promised to be back in a couple of hours. It had been sudden and, despite having been tossed around by STEM a few times already, they still had to take a moment or two to get their footing. The church had been less than kind to them and they all knew things would only get worse the deeper into STEM they went.

As if the mansion grounds weren't creepy enough on their own, they managed to walk inside in time to see the good doctor, Marcelo Jimenez, and Leslie disappear behind a massive closing door flanked by twin staircases. It wasn't necessarily hard to figure out that they needed to get on the other side just as well, but the door required more than just a simple key.

It was like the damn thing needed a blood sacrifice.

And, unfortunately, the three of them found that blood sacrifice in the form of a severed head hooked up to some kind of... medical machinery that Kidman had never seen before. That neither of them had seen before; and between the three of them, there was a decent combination of hospital visits to confirm that that kind of machine didn't exist anywhere else.

The top portion of the victim's skull was missing, exposing a still living, fully functional human brain.

There had been screws fixated into the thin cup of the skull, locking the head in place, and clearly outlining that it was something that they needed to pay attention to.

The scattered anatomical and experimental notes nearby only furthered that point.

After all of the things she had witnessed in STEM up to this point, Kidman didn't think there was much else she couldn't stomach from it.

The damn thing didn't even smell like blood, which is how she expected it to.

It smelt more like a heavy sterilizer, a scent she was more familiar with. And there were no doubts in her mind that the scent was coming from whatever medicine Ruvik was using to keep the damn head alive on its own.

Kidman thought that the three of them were all going to puke when they first stepped around that corner and saw the thing.

As much as they all wanted to ignore it, it was too out of the ordinary to; they knew that it had to signify something.

Sebastian was the only one willing to run the machine that would end up sticking a needle into the exposed brain- which was also something none of them had expected it to do. (Which almost resulted in the three of them simultaneously throwing up again.) Kidman was certain that the older Detective only volunteered to do it because he wanted them to get out of this mansion as soon as possible- and if the only way to do so was by needling a brain than so be it, he would make the sacrifice.

Kidman played the nearby audiotape while Joseph examined the anatomical sketches hastily taped together nearby.

Together they were able to figure out where to put the needle.

And when the tube connected to the weird machine began to deplete the red liquid inside of it, Kidman knew that this was only the start of some kind of elaborate, fucked up puzzle Ruvik had set out for them.

And when they stepped back out into the front lobby and noticed that one piece of the door mechanism had been filled... She was proven right.

So for now, against their wishes, the three of them were on the look-out for more of those brain stations.

They had just finished clearing out the library when Sebastian pointed out the metal piping on the wall.

The door they were trying to open had three pipes attached to the three locking mechanisms. The first one they had followed lead them to the backroom where the first brain torture device was, so it didn't take them long to catch on to the subtle clue. The one they were currently following had taken them to the library and was now guiding them down the adjacent hallway that parted off from the main study.

Guiding them down yet another wing of the mansion.

Kidman watched as Sebastian stayed in front, gun drawn and fully alert.

Joseph had been following up from the back but had stopped to investigate a side room door to their left.

She paused just outside the doorway and waited as Joseph gave the room a broad look-over, checking for any hidden Haunted; thankfully there didn't seem to be any- they usually made their presences immediately known. Assured that the man would be fine for now, Kidman continued forward, trailing some after Sebastian, who had continued onward as well; she kept an eye out for anything that might catch her attention.

The place held a sense of elegancy but at the same time it seemed oddly... stripped.

As though someone had come through before and snatched all the goods for themselves.

About halfway down the corridor, only a few yards from the first door, another side room appeared to her left.

The door was just barely cracked but Kidman felt that if there was a Haunted in there, it would've leapt out by now; they were too impatient for ambush tactics.

She waited until Sebastian had reached the end of the corridor and watched as he paused at the connecting hallway that cut sharply to his right- obscuring the whole thing from the angle she was standing at.

"I'm going to check the end of this and come back," Sebastian called to her; his heavy voice low in the narrow, empty hallway.

"Alright," Kidman nodded, before she gestured to the cracked door on her left, "I'll be in here and Joseph will be in the room next door."

The man nodded in return before he stepped around the corner and disappeared.

Keeping her gun drawn, Kidman slowly eased the partly-cracked door open and stepped inside. It didn't seem to be much of anything other than a decent-sized bedroom; there was a bed, a few sitting chairs, a desk, a wardrobe, and a dressing-wall in the corner. The room smelt faintly of dust and mildew but other than that it looked like it was stuck in time- just like every other place in this hellhole.

But something felt different about this place.

She couldn't pinpoint it and thus couldn't decide if it was a good or bad feeling.

But considering that this was STEM and that this was Ruvik's home, it wasn't exactly a gamble.

A catch of movement to her left caused Kidman to turn sharply, gun at the ready.

Her trigger finger twitched before she found herself looking down the short barrel at Joseph instead.

"Sorry," he offered, one hand removed from his gun and partly raised as he slowly stepped into the same room as her. He loosely gestured to the open doorway behind him, which revealed the same room he had gone to investigate only minutes before. "Didn't know they were connecting rooms."

Kidman nodded and tried to ease the set tension in her shoulders as she let her gun drop back at her side. Her nerves were still a little on edge. She didn't like this place- and it sure as hell wasn't hiding the fact that it didn't like them being here either. She was too jumpy, too easily bothered right now; she just needed to get herself back under control and stop tripping over her own feet.

Briefly clearing her throat, Kidman cocked her head and peered over Joseph's shoulder to the second room. "Connecting bedrooms? That's odd."

Usually there was a small room, like a bathroom, that was placed as a blocker between conjoined bedrooms.

Or at least, in her experience there always had been.

"Depends, I guess," Joseph shrugged.

Considering what this place had showed them already, having conjoined bedrooms was not it's weirdest feature.

Kidman decided to give the room a more thorough look over just in case- not that she was expecting to find much in it. But now that Joseph was there, she was a little more comfortable in letting her attention travel over the place.

... She wasn't surprised when there was nothing to be found. At all.

Nothing more than worn-out papers with illegible writings and some old books with crumpled spines that had carelessly been tossed onto the dust-covered floor.

She ran her fingers across the wrinkled bedcovers as she walked by and was surprised by how soft they still were. While the interior of the room wasn't necessarily exposed to anything, the stiff-looking bedcover had the appearance of being as unpleasant as it looked. But looks were apparently deceiving in this place.

"Are you feeling any better?" Joseph asked, breaking the cold silence in the room.

Kidman looked up from where she had started shuffling through the loose papers on the desk, although knowing damn well that they wouldn't hold anything of importance to her. She supposed she had to fill in that play-along Detective itch of hers, which was a pointless facade to keep up with at this point. She could see where Joseph was standing in the same doorway she had entered from; there was no doubt that he had positioned himself like that on purpose so he could keep an eye on her and Sebastian at the same time.

Kidman gave a shrug in response and touched lightly at her still throbbing shoulder; her body had been in constant pain ever since the church.

From the moment the three of them had fallen through the chapel flooring, they had gone through Hell, back and forth, again and again, with little time to even catch their breath. Needless to say, asides from sheer forced will, Kidman was surprised that her body hadn't completely given up on her. It ached and reminded her again and again about how she had fucked up, but there was little else she could do about it at this point.

"Yeah... well for what it's worth I'm not puking up blood anymore," Kidman offered, as she gave up on searching the antique desk; she could risk wasting her time elsewhere in this hellhole of a mansion. "But mostly no."

Joseph frowned at her answer and glanced back down the hallway once more. "Feel free to take a break if you need it."

A nice idea.

After all, for once they weren't being chased down or hunted by some impossibly-existing monster so there was no need to rush things here. And it wasn't like any of them were exactly rushing to find another one of those brain stations after all.

She really needed a break, Kidman couldn't deny that.

It didn't help that the bed here was almost too good to pass up.

It was the best looking one they had come across so far- although most of the others were usually just blood-stained mattresses with torn apart limb restraints. So it wasn't like there was really any competition. And it sure as hell beat sleeping on the floor.

...

But it was risky.

And she wasn't sure if she was up for that kind of gamble or not.

"I don't think I want to risk it," Kidman started. "We don't know what exactly is going to happen while we're here. It hasn't been as dangerous as the church so far, but given that this was Ruvik's ground zero I don't have a great feeling about it."

"You and me both," Joseph remarked, giving no hesitation in agreeing with her on that front. Maybe he was getting the same cold, gut feeling that she was. "Still, you look like you're going to pass out on your feet," he continued.

It was hard to deny the genuine sense of concern he was showing for her- not that he had really stopped worrying about her since they had regrouped.

Which was... odd.

Because between the two of them, Kidman considered him to be in the worst condition. She didn't have a clear idea of what had happened at the church with Joseph specifically, but she had witnessed the aftermath and it wasn't good by any means. Hell, she had to admit that she was surprised he managed to make it this far- and that his head had cleared up enough for him to be fully functional again.

Physical injuries were much easier to treat in comparison to mental ones.

"You still haven't recovered from what happened back at the church either," Joseph gingerly reminded.

Right...

Kidman still didn't want to think about it.

"I'm not telling you what you should do but if you want to lie down for a few minutes, I'll keep an eye out."

A heavy sigh escaped her and unfortunately brought up the same pain in her chest that had been lingering with her for hours now. She had hit that column a lot harder than she kept thinking she did; she might've bruised a lung, fractured a rib, something, which might be where the pain was originating from.

As much of a relief as the offer sounded, it also carried on as a bit of double-edged sword here.

Kidman felt like it would make her seem weak and vulnerable- like she couldn't pull her own weight around here. But at the same time, she had pulled her weight immediately following the church incident, as well as in the catacombs and even in that strange cave system they had escaped out of. She had done more than enough to prove herself- and it wasn't like either Joseph or Sebastian would judge her for needing to get off of her feet for a little while.

Despite the ongoing inner battle, Kidman gave in.

"Alright," she sighed, "I doubt we're going to get much further than this for awhile anyways. If I'm still down in ten minutes just wake me up, okay?"

"Don't worry about it," Joseph assured.

Kidman watched as the other Detective stepped out into the corridor outside, just slightly pulling the door closed behind him; he was probably going to inform Sebastian of their change of plans. She supposed after everything they had gone through they could afford just a little roadblock here. If Joseph hadn't offered though, she really wasn't sure how much longer she would last like this.

Her back and ribs had reverted back to their persistent throbbing and her shoulder had gotten to the point of nearly being immobilized by the numb pain in the socket. Her completely skinned knee had gone through several painful stages of pins and needles as well, threatening to make her leg completely useless; she had fucked up her knee pretty bad in the catacombs too, which only made it worse than it already was.

Not to mention her head had been going through headaches for the past couple of hours now- revolving one around the other until they brought her to the point of being physically sick.

God knows how many times she had to stop their progress just to pull herself to the side and puke while they were trying to navigate their way through the dark underground cave system. It got to the point where she had felt more sorry for Sebastian and Joseph for having to hear her puke rather than for herself who was actually doing it. That dull, empty feeling in her stomach still persisted too- reminding her of the unbearable cramping from stressing her abdominal muscles for too long.

Slowly working her way back towards the neatly-made bad, Kidman grabbed the folded covers and hesitated before she pulled them back. Part of her was half-expecting to find a body hiding under the blankets, or maybe a Haunted lying in wait, but there was nothing. Nothing more than a set of matching sheets.

For another moment, she battled with second thoughts- wondering instead if she should just bail and regroup with Joseph and Sebastian.

But if she didn't take this opportunity now, she would reach the point of total exhaustion later down the road and then what? She could turn dead weight in the middle of a life or death situation- and there was no way she would let herself take the three of them down altogether.

Kidman gave a subtle groan as she finally convinced herself to lie down and felt her body start to throb all over again- except this time it was almost satisfying. The mattress was firm but it still conformed around her weight, offering some support to her wounded bones and joints. For now, at least, she could finally ease her overworked muscles and allow herself to relax as best as she could.

As much as she wanted to kick off her heels and strip off her holster though, she wasn't stupid.

Even if the other two were keeping an eye on her, she still needed to be self-prepared in case something happened before they could get to her.

Kidman didn't really think she'd be able to rest all that well, let alone even sleep in the first place.

But she fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

_Kidman could hear herself wheezing through gritted teeth and strained breaths as she struggled to carry herself as fast as she could down the crumbling corridor around her._

_Her entire body ached and throbbed from the sudden assault in the chapel, from the Administrator's deciding hand._

_Adrenaline and shock were keeping her afloat for the time being, keeping her from focusing too much on the pain, but there was no guarantee that the cocktail would last long enough to save her. There was no guarantee that she could keep her body running, sliding and stumbling over the breaking ground floor beneath her._

_It was taking every bit of strength to force her legs to move._

_She could feel them shaking and burning with every new step- just barely able to take the next one in balance._

_The threat of them collapsing out from underneath her was constant as she felt the sharp, hot pain course through her. It felt like her muscles were straining not to tear themselves apart by the strands as they were filling up with acid from the inside._

_There was so much pain..._

_She could feel herself gagging through hard breaths, feeling the clutching pain in her stomach as her body urged itself to throw up._

_But if she stopped, she was as good as dead._

_Kidman was stumbling as she tried to navigate the narrow twisting corridor with half-blackened vision. She could barely see more than a few feet in front of her and she could only hope that there was as much space between her and the Administrator as she thought there was. At least enough space for her to escape with, to avoid his clinging hands and booming voice._

_But she caught sight of the black shadows to her right._

_Caught sight of elongated fingers reaching out from a collapsed entrance way- ripping themselves off of the crumbling brick wall._

_She nearly slipped as she ducked and threw herself around the next corner, cutting her fingers on the brick wall as she used it to counter her motion- barely avoiding the long fingers that scratched the surface of her back._

_Kidman stumbled in the aftermath of the risky motion, hot pain bouncing from her ankles to her knees to her hips and back down again. She managed to keep herself going, more out of fear now. She had to keep moving, no matter where this corridor would drop her off at. It could be leading her right into a dead end for all she knew but she didn't really have a choice right now!_

_She had to keep trying._

_She had to keep going._

_She had to get out of here!_

_Another stumble, another shot of pain shooting around inside of her as Kidman struggled to regain her footing. She pushed herself up, pushed herself to keep going- only to feel a burning sense of coldness rush up along her left arm. She yanked it back, never looking back but knowing full and well what was there, and knowing that she had to get away from it at all cost._

_But things were never that easy._

_Black shadowed fingers dug themselves around her wrist and jerked her arm back with them._

_Kidman heard the audible pop as her left shoulder was dislocated from the sheer force of the pull and felt the way her body was twisted back by counter-motion. Heels scraped against broken concrete while her legs nearly collapsed at the sudden stop; her head spun with an odd sense of vertigo as she was blinded by the hot pain that erupted from her now empty shoulder socket._

_But the flooding sense of agony barely kept her attention for the two seconds it took for her eyes to focus on the suited man steadily approaching her._

_Another shadowed hand broke away from the wall and grabbed her by the right arm before she had a chance to move, before she had a chance to consider fighting, to consider running away again._

_She still tried, even as her legs were paralyzed by pain and muscles pulled too tight._

_It didn't matter though as long fingers pushed up through the ground beneath her and wrapped themselves around her buckling legs. The sheer chill of the cold touch caused her legs to finally give out from underneath her, but the tight grip of the shadowed fingers kept her standing on them- almost making the agony worse._

_There was hardly any time to panic._

_Every emotion simply melted itself down into immediate desperation and fear of what the Administrator was going to do to her._

_It melted down into agonizing disappointment that she come this far only to get this far; she had fought through so much and yet, he still bested her._

_"You could've been something, Kid."_

_It was useless to struggle and doing so only caused her more pain, more agony, but Kidman did it relentlessly._

_She knew she couldn't get loose, knew she wouldn't be able to escape his hold but she could still knock herself out, or maybe even kill herself from the pain before he ever got the chance to._

_(As if she would ever get that lucky.)_

_It felt like more hands, more fingers kept appearing, crawling over her, pricking and scratching at her skin until every hold on her was drawing blood._

_"We don't have time to deal with disappointments like you, Kid."_

_Kidman looked up at the face in front of her; it was blurred out just like everyone else's but she could hear the irritated smugness in his voice. He hated her- always had, always would no matter what she'd do._

_She could feel the fingers digging in harder now, burrowing under her skin, drawing out warm droplets that splashed at her feet._

_Kidman felt the muscles in her throat pull before she spat out the blood in her mouth- landing it somewhere in the blurred remains of the Administrator's face._

_"Fuck you!"_

_If there was any reaction, she didn't see it- and she knew she wouldn't anyways._

_It was bittersweet._

_It pushed off the pain for just a little while._

_But it didn't stop the shadowed fingers from impaling themselves through her, ripping through her skin, and sinking themselves between her bones, between her ribs. It didn't stop the shadowed touch from twisting into every limb, tangling and shredding her from the inside out- tearing away at muscles, playing themselves between her tendons. She felt her dislocated shoulder fall away almost immediately, felt fingers pushing further in through the socket._

_"Consider this your termination from Mobius."_

* * *

Kidman woke up with a partial scream half-dead in her throat and one hand tightly clinging to her chest.

There was numbness, lingering pain.

Black spots filtering in the corners of her vision.

She expected to find blood, curled skin, exposed bone... but shaking fingers tumbled across warm skin and a wrinkled shirt that was missing one too many buttons. Disbelief, shock, pushed her to keep searching as she ran her hand around her neck, over her still-attached shoulder, and down her arms; she felt herself trembling the entire time she was doing so.

...

There were no injuries.

No dislocated or missing shoulder.

No blood, no throbbing pain paralyzing her legs.

She had a mild headache at best.

It felt like her heart was clawing to get out of her chest as eyes darted around the room- not yet convinced that she wasn't back at the church. Not yet convinced that whatever had happened, whatever she had _felt_ , had only been a bad dream...

Kidman found herself shaking and feeling the phantom pain running through her limbs still, echoing and throbbing in all the places those hands had torn into her at. She was cold all over and was more than willing to blame the chattering of her teeth on that rather than the tightness of her jaw and throat as the lingering fear had almost reduced her to tears.

(Christ, she hadn't felt that kind of emotion in a long time now.)

It had to have been real somehow...

All of that couldn't have just been fake, it couldn't have just been in her head.

_You're going crazy!_

_You're better than this!_

She tried to calm herself, tried to push herself to forget, or at least to clean up her image lest Joseph or Sebastian came in to check in on her. There wasn't enough to comprehend what had happened, let alone enough to try and explain it to them- to explain why she wasn't quite but almost on the brink of tears.

It was stupid, she was better than this.

But in the corner of her eye, Kidman spotted movement, spotted motion of a dark shadow, and her body reacted quicker than her mind could. Her heart was still going, still pumping adrenaline through her blood, throughout her body; she had 'died' before and her instincts weren't about to let her die again lest this was a second chance.

She didn't remember crossing the bed in one seamlessly motion, tearing herself away from the movement.

But she did feel her feet hit the aged floorboards and that was all that mattered.

Kidman was across the bedroom before she knew it, the door wrenched open in hand; she threw herself out into the hallway without looking.

(She was ready to run again- and the Administrator wasn't going to catch her this time!)

"Kidman!"

She nearly made it to the end of the hallway outside before the voice calling out after her stopped her dead in her tracks.

_Kidman._

Not Kid.

It made for a big difference.

There were only two people who called her Kidman.

(And only one person who called her Kid.)


	2. Catalyst

Her mind finally caught up to her, reminding her of where she was.

It was like someone had snapped her out of a trance, out of a bad dream as Kidman stood there frozen in place now. Her breath was caught in her throat as she looked around her once more, as she took in absently adorned walls and peeling wallpaper.

This wasn't the church.

This wasn't the stone corridor, the stone catacomb that had been degrading, collapsing under foot.

This was the Victoriano mansion.

There was no Administrator here (not for now anyways).

It was just her here.

It was just _them_.

Kidman felt her body slowly turn at the sound of running footsteps and numbly watched as Sebastian was the first to make it out into the hallway after her; Joseph not too far behind him. It occurred to her right then that they were running after her too. Not out of malice but... out of weakly exposed concern. She could only imagine how she looked to them- crazy and delusional at best, and that was being nice.

"I'm fine," Kidman breathed, hearing her own voice shaking with the exhale. It was far too much of a lie but she felt like she had to say something. She had to be the first to say something, to prove that she was still in the right mind of things somehow. That she still had some form of control over herself, even if it wasn't complete control.

She was still shaking.

_Breathe, Kidman- just breathe._

_Don't show weakness._

The weight of a heavy hand on her shoulder broke her from her own trance again and Kidman looked up to see Sebastian in front of her. She wasn't even aware that the man had moved at all from the doorway and yet here he was. His hand was tight on her shoulder, not quite a vicing grip but tight enough to ensure that she couldn't run so easily away again.

Not out of malice but perhaps fear.

When she looked up to him, Kidman swore she caught a hint of the man restraining himself.

Maybe if he was a different person, he would've brought her in against him instead; holding her to him to fill in that need for comfort, for stability.

And maybe if she was a different person, she would've accepted it.

(But they weren't different people.)

...

Here was a man who had seemed so dead in realty, so dead in the living world; he was like a dead man forced to function in living skin.

STEM plucked control from people, forcing them to turn into their worst traits.

And while STEM should've eaten a man like Sebastian alive, it transformed him instead of breaking him.

He had been cold and callous with her at the KPD and Kidman had to admit that he had his reasons to; it wasn't like she wasn't doing the same to him. And yet here, he didn't hesitate to yank her out of danger; Sebastian didn't hesitate to take a striking blow for her, knowing that he could risk the fresh wound when she couldn't. Kidman could still feel the catch of his hand against the back strap of her chest holster; she could still feel the way he yanked her back, nearly pulling her off of her feet completely, just to avoid the chest-bursting arm from one of those Alter Ego creatures in the catacombs.

The catacombs had been too tight to dodge in but he still found the room to pull her back into safety.

She was beginning to see pieces of the man who used to live in this body before.

There was a tight, reassuring squeeze of her shoulder before the grip loosened- still not enough for her to pull away from though.

"You're not fine," Sebastian spoke.

And there was an odd sense of ease in the man's voice, subtle and gentle.

It was no surprise that he didn't fall for her obvious lie but... he was letting her know that it was okay.

She didn't have to be fine- God knows that none of them were ' _fine_ ' right now.

Not after the asylum, not after the church.

And he broke something inside of her.

"I'm not fine," Kidman whispered in repeat, as one hand moved to pull her hair away from her face. She could feel her hand still shaking from the dream, from the premonition, and she curled her fingers against her scalp as she dragged them through her hair. Her voice didn't crack thankfully, but it was still on the verge of doing so. "It was real. I swear to God it was real."

She sounded crazy.

But she could still feel those cold fingers all over her.

She could still feel the hot pain erupting across her body- still able to feel herself being torn apart.

"And I don't doubt that," Sebastian replied. "Whatever you saw was real enough, I-" the man paused, looking as though he might continue before he seemed to change his mind about what was to be said. "That doesn't mean I want you running around this place unguarded."

Right.

The Victoriano mansion was a guaranteed death trap waiting to happen.

"Right," she sighed as her hand dropped to rub at the back of her neck.

The adrenaline had cut itself off by this point, leaving her with the lingering aftermath of her actions- leaving her with sore legs, a sore back, and a still throbbing head.

"Come on, you look like you're going to pass out any minute now," Sebastian spoke.

As intense and as real as the nightmare was, Kidman couldn't deny that she was still exhausted- maybe even more so than she had been prior to lying down; it felt like she had barely even rested. But just the thought of going back to sleep and seeing that nightmare all over again made the idea of closing her eyes seem hellish. She couldn't see herself doing it but she certainly didn't fight Sebastian as he slowly guided her back towards the open bedroom.

Sebastian passed her off to Joseph and mentioned something about doing another check of the surrounding rooms- but Kidman had stopped listening at that point.

All she knew was that she needed to sit down and pretend that things would get better with rest.

That the pain would eventually subside if she just stopped thinking about it for a little while.

She felt Joseph brush his hand against her back as she moved by and was thankful for the subtle gesture as she stepped back into the bedroom.

Sebastian did what comforting he could for her but that was his limit- anything past victim recovery was usually Joseph's speciality.

"I'm real fucking tired of this place," Kidman whispered as she nearly wore herself out just walking across the room. She could see the disarray of the bedcover from her earlier stint just minutes ago; it was still something that she couldn't recall doing. She was scared shitless, that much she was certain of. Reluctantly, she sat back down where she had previously been sleeping.

As fucked up as things were right now, this was still the best bed she was ever going to get in here.

Even if she just sat here and relaxed as best she could, it would still be better than nothing.

Joseph offered what might've been an agreeing chuckle, or maybe a sympathetic one, as he followed after her.

"You and me both."

Kidman sighed and rubbed at her neck once more, unable to brush off the feeling of fingers digging in through her vertebrae. Her ribs ached still from the church, although half of her was convinced it was from that nightmare, from those shadowed fingers breaking every rib between their knuckles. She didn't want to sleep, she didn't even want to close her eyes, and right now the silence was more damning than peaceful. Conversation wasn't her strong point but she was willing to give it a go. "Anything happen while I was out?"

"Not really," Joseph replied in answer. "We finished doing a quick sweep of the place and I came back in here to check on you..."

Kidman took notice of the lingering pause at the end of his remark- taking note that it seemed like there was something more he was going to say. Whether that was intentional or not wasn't the question. Curiosity was a damnful thing. "And?" she pressed.

If Joseph had any thought of holding the answer out on her, the thought didn't last long.

(It normally didn't.)

"I swear I only sat down for a few seconds to catch my breath but... I guess I ended up passing out just the same," Joseph admitted, gesturing briefly to the two chairs pulled off to the side of the bed; Kidman hadn't even noticed them. "I suppose it wouldn't have been too bad of a thing but Sebastian ended up passing out too. We're really lucky a Haunted or two didn't stumble on us."

It was hard to deny what might've been the hint of disappointment in his tone- disappointment in himself maybe.

(Joseph was always hard on himself.)

It wasn't like Kidman could blame him for passing out though. They were all going through this elongated Hellscape together right now and they were all running on empty and pretty desperate for rest. They had managed a few short breaks here or there beforehand but there was usually something on their asses that kept them on the run. Despite the ominous atmosphere of the Victoriano mansion, it was hard to deny that it was pretty calm and slow compared to everywhere else they had been.

And while Kidman wasn't convinced that that wasn't going to change all too soon on them, it didn't hurt to take advantage of the situation as it was given.

You know, before they all collapsed from complete exhaustion.

Kidman tucked one leg underneath her and partly leaned back against the antique headboard, hearing it squeak some in response. Maybe it was with her silence or with something else but she watched as Joseph moved to sit down on the edge of the bed next to her, turning so that he faced her instead.

"You look pale," he started.

"Yeah well, after what I saw, waking up from something like that will do that to you," Kidman replied, hearing the roughness in her own voice when she spoke. She had to give Joseph points for being worried and for not hesitating to openly show his concern; it was one of few human traits that had yet to be ripped out of him by this inhuman world. But part of her cringed at the response, at the attention. She was certainly the last person who deserved this kind of treatment from someone like him. "Sorry, I'm just... a little unnerved right now."

She just witnessed herself get killed in an eerily real simulation.

Maybe she was just as equally hard on herself.

"You don't have to explain yourself," Joseph assured.

If the situation wasn't as stressed as it was, she would've laughed at his response.

(Christ, she really didn't deserve this kind of attention- not with the things she knew, not with the things she had done.)

Giving out an exhausted sigh, Kidman pushed herself away from the headboard and immediately moved to rest against Joseph's open shoulder- taking the free space for herself. Even if she didn't feel as though she deserved his support, she certainly wasn't going to pass up on it either; she wasn't stupid. Her mind was in a fucked up place right now and even if she hated to admit it, she needed someone to help her pull herself back together.

She needed someone to act as a tether for her.

(Even if the tether itself wasn't that strong.)

Joseph seemed to hesitate for a moment before he slowly moved one arm around her, seemingly caught off-guard by her actions. It didn't take long for him to sink into that supportive role though as Kidman felt him gingerly begin to rub small circles against the small of her back. Kidman couldn't recall a time where anyone had ever offered her a comforting gesture like that before. And she had to admit that such a simple touch was stupidly calming.

For someone who was suffering just as much, if not more, than anyone else here, Joseph was quick to ignore his own issues for someone else's.

Did he just see himself as a lost cause at this point and figure that his efforts would be better placed on someone else?

...

It was hard to believe that just hours before Kidman had been hacking away at him with a blunt axe in a forced illusion conjured by the Administrator.

She remembered watching blood spew out with each swing as the axe blade peeled flesh away from bone; she remembered the cracking sound of his ribs, his clavicle, his chest plate, each one from a different axe, a different swing.

All to prove her own loyalty.

It had been out of necessity; she needed to kill him in order to continue and so... she had.

It didn't come easy to her but she was used to doing things she didn't want to in order to get the objective done.

Even if it meant dealing with every explicit and pained scream between every hit.

But even when she did the deed, when she finished the job, it still wasn't good enough to ease the Administrator's rage at her.

At this point she was better off being cast aside as a rogue agent, so what did anything here matter? Mobius, to an extent, still had some control inside of STEM, but Kidman was no longer playing by their rules- by the Administrator's rules. And until he actually caught her, until he actually killed her, he couldn't control her.

"Juli? Are you alright?"

Kidman stirred slightly at the question, at the sound of her first name that was so rarely spoken, not even realizing that she had started to doze off amongst the silence. Her own silence must've made Joseph nervous, pushing him to wake her.

"I'm fine," she assured as she slowly pulled away from him, although not by much. It was just enough for her to spare a glance up to him, taking hint of his concerned expression once more.

But the images of how the axe had carved his body open still stuck with her.

The guilt of having to play pawn plagued her still.

Joseph was alive and well now... well, mostly alive at least.

But the thought of Mobius having something else planned for him, the thought of Mobius pitting him against her again felt mind-shattering. She ran the risk of them doing the same with Sebastian, twisting him against her just the same. If they did... if Mobius tried it again, she might just turn into one of the many thoughtless Haunted if she had to bear the weight of an axe in her hands again.

She could still recall the memories from the church, from waking up to see the both of them there- to seeing Joseph there, a little worse for wear but not dead. It fucked with her on a different plane of reasoning. At the time she didn't know it was fake, that it was an illusion; STEM played enough mind games with her that she didn't know what was real or not. The gun still in hand, still intact should've been a clue but she couldn't be sure. So physically seeing him again, alive and breathing and human...

She broke.

She had reached her limit.

"Hey," Joseph whispered, as one hand carefully moved to brush the hair from her face- careful with the setting bruise on her forehead. It was such a subtle touch, Kidman barely even felt it to begin with. "You're gonna be okay."

Maybe he thought she needed the added reassurance.

Maybe he took her silence for uncertainty.

...

Kidman had to admit that if the situation had been of anything less tense or of anything less life-threatening, she might've toyed with the idea of kissing him.

After all, she had known about his off-the-cuff feelings for her for some time now.

But she also knew that Joseph would never actively act upon them. His strict sense of morals and ethics would never let him cross that kind of boundary. And while it made her job easier knowing that she didn't have to worry about it... Kidman couldn't help but to feel some boredom from it as well.

Joseph was certainly attractive and definitely better than most, if not all, of the men who usually hit on her.

It was near disappointing that he had never make a single pass at her during their working months beforehand. He never even said anything those few times they had all gone to the bar together after work, after a hard day of frustrations and no answers. And Kidman figured that was always the go-to place for something to slip out. But not for him, not for Joseph.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Kidman practically jerked herself back at the question- surprised that in the brief quiet moment between her and Joseph, she had managed to forget about the older Detective completely. Or maybe, perhaps on a lighter note of things, she had just assumed that Sebastian would be gone for longer than he actually was.

For some reason the act of being walked in on left her feeling exposed and she wasn't certain of why; it wasn't like the two of them had even been doing anything.

"Has anything changed?" Joseph questioned instead, choosing to ignore the other man's question for the time being.

The barely hinted flush of his cheeks seemed to hint that he was feeling that same sort of exposure that she was though- so at least she wasn't alone with it.

"Not from what I can tell," Sebastian answered, leaning against the open doorframe to the bedroom. "I looked around the library and out at the main hall as well but nothing seems out of place. We're lucky none of those things were around while we were dozing off."

To be fair, they had killed most of the Haunted on their first walk through of the mansion.

That didn't mean that more of them wouldn't find their way inside but... it still bought them some time.

Kidman couldn't even begin to imagine the thought of waking up to a couple of Haunted standing around them.

She wondered if the Haunted would immediately go about killing them in their sleep, or if they would wait until at least one of them noticed their twisted presences first. It would be more entertaining for them to go with the latter; it was a perfect Hunter-Prey scenario. The anticipation would've been too long for the Haunted to hold out on, but given that the thoughtless creatures could possibly have patience, the waiting would've been a holy payoff.

"If that's the case than we can rest for a little longer," Kidman offered. She could feel the painful throbbing stirring up in her joints again and felt the slight protest of her limbs with every little movement. Exhaustion was still creeping up on her, reminding her again and again of how tired she was and how much pain she was in. Maybe it was just desperation to take a load off and properly rest that had her somewhat willing to set the chilling nightmare aside for the time being. "It'll do us more good than harm in the long run."

"Yeah, I'm sure you two would love that."

Kidman frowned and caught the matching expression on Joseph's lips as well.

Sebastian was a Detective; he wasn't stupid. It wasn't like he didn't know that something might've been going on between them- although nothing certainly had. The man was a mystery in how he acted sometimes. Sometimes he was outright forward and blunt, never sparing feelings or details. And other times he just seemed to ignore whatever was going on around him- preferring to not get involved in something.

And something like _this_ usually would've been something that he wouldn't get involved with.

Or at least Kidman thought it would be.

Maybe he was just trying to lighten the mood after everything that had happened so far.

The floor creaked as the older Detective pushed himself from the doorway and made his way across the small bedroom- eventually joining where the two of them were sitting. It was hard to deny the slightest glimpse of concern in his eyes when Sebastian looked at her, even though the exposed expression lingered for a few seconds at best. "You alright?"

For a moment, Kidman felt a sense of comfort at the exposed concern.

The Administrator had been the one who had put her in this shitty condition to begin with; his unpredictable yet building outrage at her climbing failure had been the breaking point for her. The revelation from Ruvik meant nothing to Mobius. As long as Leslie got out, as long as he was still a viable host to them, nothing else mattered. Especially not her.

But Sebastian and Joseph... they had tried to be with her every step of the way.

The two had saved her back at the asylum and had committed themselves to not letting her, or each other, out of their sights.

(Which was clearly not as easy as they had been hoping.)

... It had been so easy for Mobius to paint the two of them as villains before STEM was brought online. Mobius painted them as simple pawns for her to fit in with, insisting again and again that they were meaningless once STEM was alive. All she had to do was play nice until then and then she could forget about them afterwards.

But now how easily those roles had been reversed.

"Like I said it was just a bad dream," Kidman reassured, noting that Sebastian didn't seem the least bit convinced by her answer- but this time he said nothing about it. Hell, she couldn't blame him. Even she wasn't convinced by her own acting. "Which I'm not sure why I'm surprised that I had one; I wouldn't be surprised if this place amplified nightmares and mindfucks by ten-fold."

Ruvik was probably able to fuck with their deep-sleep cycles in some way or form.

"Was it about what happened back at the church?" Joseph asked.

Kidman figured one of them would eventually work themselves up to asking her about the church again.

When Sebastian and Joseph found her back at the church, after what the Administrator had done to her... she wasn't exactly calm and collected. If anything she had been on the verge of a breakdown- maybe even just a little bit hysterical as well. The confrontation with Ruvik just seconds beforehand had been enough to convince her to break herself from her given assignment; she couldn't risk bringing Leslie back if it meant releasing Ruvik from STEM as well.

But then the Administrator had manifested and demanded that she stay on course- reminding her that she didn't have any other choice in the matter. And despite knowing that she was choosing the better option, it didn't make the Administrator's anger any less terrifying.

First, it had been the water tank in the asylum, and then the illusionary Haunted battle against Joseph, and then the crippling punishment at the church...

How many traumatic experiences would she have to go through before this nightmare was over with?

Kidman gave a reluctant nod in answer, not willing to say anymore about it just yet. "... Yeah, it was the church all over again."

"Do you... do you remember anything else about it?" Joseph continued, although seemingly hesitant to do so.

The two of them had asked her that question once she had calm down but Kidman had lied and claimed that she didn't remember anything; she claimed that all of it had happened so fast she couldn't keep track of it. Although it wasn't necessarily a full lie; she still wasn't certain if she remembered exactly how everything had started, how everything had happened. It had been quick, it had been spontaneous- Kidman had just found herself running before she even had a full grasp on the situation.

(Not that running had gotten her very far.)

"Just these... disembodied hands," Kidman started, feeling a little more at ease with telling them that much; it wasn't like the information would do much good for them anyways. If anything it would only fuel their suspicions that she was crazy.

But there was this gut feeling in her stomach that warned her, that advised her if she told them what had happened, even if by skewed truth, then it would leave them open for attack by the Administrator too. And while it was probably outlandish and childish to think such... She couldn't risk it. Not even by the smallest of margins.

"They were trying to catch me I think. I'm not sure what they would've done to me if they actually had but... I'm glad I don't know," she finished. "That nightmare was enough to answer it for me and I never want to see it again."

Kidman guessed she sounded more scared than she thought she did, than she had intended to let out because she felt Joseph brush his hand against her arm in a comforting gesture. And it was another small gesture that surprised her.

"You're fine now," Joseph reminded.

Not safe, because none of them were really safe but... being fine was a good starting point.

She could settle with that.

"I know it'll probably be difficult but... try and get some more rest," Joseph offered. "And we'll try to actually do our jobs this time, yeah?"

A subtle jab, although it sounded more like a tease than anything.

And while the thought of a nightmare-free nap sounded better this time around, Kidman was certain that it was near-impossible at this point- especially here of all places. She had already taken the risk once before and it backfired on her; she didn't think she could risk doing it again.

Just as well, they were wasting enough of their time waiting around on her when they could be using it to get out of this place.

"We should keep going," Kidman insisted, "we still have two more of those... brain things to find."

"Don't remind me," Sebastian groaned, looking less than interested in finding where the two remaining door locks were. Maybe if it had been something simple like trying to find a key or a fucking code of some kind this would be different. But since Ruvik was semi-directly involved in this, it clearly wasn't going to be that simple- or clean. The older man gave a heavy sigh and pushed his fingers through his hair before he glanced between her and Joseph; his heavy features seemed to tense for a moment. "No, just... the two of you really need to rest and pull yourselves together- neither of you walked away from that damn church in good health. I can handle things from here."

... He was serious.

And while the offer shouldn't have surprised Kidman, it still did.

How many more surprises did the old man have up his sleeve?

"Like how you handled that Box-headed creature in the catacombs?" Joseph pressed.

And the oddity of the remark, not to mention the quickness of it had Kidman snorting back a quiet laugh.

Joseph was always the quick one with the sharp retorts- something that Kidman had never expected from him based off first impressions. He didn't do them often but sometimes after viewing a crime scene, or after questioning a suspect, when the three of them were back inside of the squad car, he would let off a remark. It never failed to get Connolly laughing; sometimes the older officer had to roll his window down in order to get fresh air afterwards- and sometimes he had to pull the car over or risk running into someone.

But here, in STEM of all places, she really wasn't expecting it.

"I handled it better than you did."

Fortunately, Sebastian could be just as quick.

(And depending on the situation or case, he could be more ruthless too.)

"Look, we were all in the catacombs, we all got stuck in at least one trap... we all coughed up blood from the poison," Kidman interrupted, although the last thing she wanted to think about right now was that exact battle. Being crammed into a tight mess of corridors while running from a big lurking creature was not something she enjoyed doing- and was not something she wanted to do again.

Kidman had to admit though that she was kind of having fun watching the two of them go back and forth on each other again. It reminded her of taking the back seat and listening to them argue in the office or in the car. Sometimes it was like they were able to read one another's thoughts, able to cut the other person off before they could start. Of course doing so only made the conversation more heated but she had never witnessed anything escalate to dangerous level. They usually said their piece, argued, and then agreed to disagree- or at least, that was what a four-hour argument could be boiled down to.

Kidman gave a brief sigh and rubbed the back of her neck. "We're fine in here for now, there's no harm in all of us taking a breather. We can just close and lock the doors- at least make sure that if anything did want to get in here with us we'd at least hear them before they did."

Neither of them seemed all that convinced by the offer but... it wasn't like they could argue much.

They were all barely hanging on by a thread at this point and it would benefit them as a group to just rest together.

Sebastian was in the better shape out of all of them, sure, but he had taken a nasty hit from that box-headed creature before. The back of his left shoulder was carved open from catching the corner of the creature's hammer mid-swing. It was difficult to tell just how bad the wound was since they had yet to slow down and check it out. Sebastian was still able to move his shoulder seemingly fine and he hadn't mentioned the wound yet, but his once-white shirt was now stained a heavy dark-red; even his vest had been soaked from the blood loss.

Kidman figured the pull of his chest holster across his back helped to keep pressure on the wound but it still had to have been hurting like a bitch.

That hammer had teeth on the end of it.

It had to have shredded his skin on impact.

And between her and Joseph, they couldn't even piece together a skeleton that wasn't broken or fractured in some way.

At the very least, with things on the low-down right now, the three of them could recover some energy before they had to move forward with the task at hand.

(Not that any of them actually wanted to keep looking for those brain exhibits.)

"You make a good point," Joseph relented. And Kidman was convinced he only gave in at the reminded prospect of how exhausted he was as well. Even he couldn't keep pushing his own health out of focus. Although she wasn't sure if he wanted to take the risk of sleeping in a place like this after witnessing her own experience doing so. "I suppose there's no harm in it."

(Asides from the obvious anyways.)

Still, it was good.

At least this was something that could be agreed on.

Kidman hesitated slightly before she continued.

"Those chairs can't be too comfortable either and the bed's big enough for three-" she started, holding her hands up the moment she knew that Sebastian and Joseph would start to object. She knew exactly how the offer sounded and she knew that the two of them would immediately reject the idea- but it wasn't like it was a bad proposal either. "Just go with it, alright? We're stuck in Ruvik's mansion looking for some old brain experiments of his. That's about as fucked up as it could get right now and I have a feeling it's only going to get worse from here. So I hardly think that sharing a bed between the three of us is going to mean shit."

The three of them had shared the couch in the break room plenty of times before, even the couch in the office once or twice.

They had even shared the backseat of the squad car that one time- much to Connolly's amusement.

And the scattered times that they had been here in STEM had seen the three of them crammed into dark corners together, crammed into tight wardrobes, smashed against walls, all the fun stuff.

They had had more physical contact in STEM than they ever had at the office.

The only reason this would seem different was because sharing a bed had the illusion of being more intimate when it really wasn't.

That wasn't to say that she couldn't understand their potential discomfort at the idea- especially Sebastian.

But in the grand scheme of things, it would simply be more comfortable for everyone this way and right now comfort was hard to come by in a place like this. They couldn't exactly just let it slide by without at least considering it.

Kidman supposed Sebastian and Joseph could opt to share the bed in the other bedroom, but that would separate them as a team and put them all at a greater risk if they _were_ ambushed somehow. And the last thing any of them needed to do was take an unnecessary gamble; they couldn't physically or mentally afford one.

"What do you say?" Kidman offered in question, hoping to keep the silence from building too much. If it went on for too long then it turned awkward and that would only make getting an answer even harder.

"It's... something to think on," Joseph started, seemingly hesitant enough in that statement before he passed off the question. "What do you think, Sebastian?"

"That this wouldn't be the first time you two have shared a bed."

Kidman felt taken back by the point-blank remark and she saw the same shock of it on Joseph's face.

She swore it sounded like a joke, but at the same time she was almost certain that the older Detective had been holding on to that one for awhile now- especially given the fluidness of the remark. Part of her wanted to hate on him for the response but even she had to admit that, while it was the furtherest thing from the truth, he didn't make the remark out of spite.

"Uncalled for," Joseph started.

"Just stating an observation," Sebastian replied.

Again, he was a Detective; he made his career off of figuring people out. And even though they were his co-workers, they weren't exempted from his observations. It just made Kidman curious as to what he saw that she didn't.

And in all honesty, she found the situation humorous.

It was a good break between the endless life and death running they've been doing lately.

It was a hint at lost normality in this place.

(It was a tether.)

"You can rest between us then," Kidman offered instead, knowing that the offer wouldn't help either her or Joseph's defense. But right now it was a conversation and that was better than silence.

Sebastian cracked an honest-to-God laugh, short and brief and mostly dry but it was still worth noting. "This place is dangerous enough without being stuck between you two."

There was probably more truth than tease in the statement.

Kidman felt herself laugh in response and surprised herself with finding that the emotion was still alive inside of her; she was also surprised that the gesture didn't kill her as it carried heavy on top of the steady pain in her chest. "Look, it's up to the two of you. Do whatever you want, it won't bother me," she spoke, as she leaned back against the headboard once more.

"Let's at least do one more check before we commit ourselves to anything," Joseph started as he pushed himself to his feet. Kidman wondered if his quickly-wanted departure had anything to do with her and Sebastian's comments; by proxy, they were both sort of hassling him. "We've had a lot of close calls lately... I don't want us to get this far only to be put down by something we overlooked."

Always the practical one.

Always the smart one though; his sense of perception had already gotten them out of a few tight places.

Despite Sebastian having _just_ done a check of the place, Kidman watched as the two of them headed out of the room regardless. Their guns were drawn by the time they disappeared out into the corridor, drawing the door closed with a quiet 'click' behind them. She didn't know if the offer had really bothered either man that much, or if they really were stepping out to keep an eye on their safety. They were putting themselves into a very vulnerable position here should they all take the time to rest; it would be an easy opening for anyone or anything to wipe them all out at once.

Even if they still had their guns on them while they slept.

Kidman groaned as she forced herself to slide back down against the mattress and pushed her fingers through her hair once she had landed. Her head was starting to throb something righteous now, starting at the back of her skull and working its way forward. It didn't help that her back was hurting again too. Lying down on it wouldn't really help but there wasn't much else she could do about it.

Her left arm was numb, she hated sleeping on her stomach, and she needed her right arm to draw in case something did come into the room.

...

How great would it be if she could just fall asleep right now and wake up in her apartment instead.

If she could just wake up and have this whole nightmare be over with- or better yet, never have happened in the first place.

For the second time, Kidman closed her eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.


	3. [Redacted]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: Kissing, implied threesome, foreplay

At some point, Kidman felt herself slowly stir awake again- no nightmares, no trauma this time thankfully.

Unfortunately, it meant that she was awake now and when she tried to convince herself that she was still asleep, she was unsuccessful.

... The last thing she wanted to be right now was conscious.

It only reminded her of the utter hellhole that she was in- that there was still a lot of work to be done just for her to take the next step. Just _one_ step which might just end up going nowhere. She just wanted to sleep and pretend that the asylum, the church, the catacombs, and this fucking mansion never existed in the first place. By technicality they never did, not in _this_ state anyways, but STEM was as real as anything while they were in it.

They had no choice but to submit to its warped reality.

It didn't help that being consciously awake now made Kidman realize just how cold she was as well.

Christ, the air in this mansion had been stagnant and stuffy before- almost hard to breathe and walk through without breaking into a sweat. And now it was utterly chilling against her exposed skin. Kidman could feel herself almost shivering under the cold. Jesus, she hoped it was just the air and not a side effect of blood loss or internal trauma- neither of which would be surprising to her. If such was the case though, she would've been suffering from the side effects a long time ago.

(Maybe it was a ghostly presence hanging around instead- what a ghastly thought.)

Kidman pushed herself up just enough to roll onto her right side, loosely hoping that maybe a different position would get her blood flowing again- or that maybe it would just cut down on the amount of skin exposed to the ungrateful chill. She had tried to avoid lying on her dominant arm but considering how stiff her fingers felt from the cold, she highly doubted she could even pull the trigger of her gun.

It was a lose-lose situation regardless so she might as well go with the option that offered the least amount of discomfort.

Surprisingly enough, the change of position did help.

Just not for the reasons she thought it would.

Despite falling asleep while she was the only occupant in the bed, Kidman inadvertently ended up rolling into someone with the motion. Her mind was too exhausted to consider the idea that it might've been a Haunted- although the thought of one in bed with her was incredibly disgusting now that she HAD considered it. But she would've picked up on the smell of one by now, or at least the hands of one as it would've tried to grab for her. Whoever this was, they weren't a Haunted and they weren't dead in some way, which passed her only qualifications at the moment.

Not to mention, it was hard to deny just how warm whoever it was that had laid down next to her.

And Kidman was desperate enough to run the risks and stay put.

Again, comfort was a hard thing to come by in this place.

And after being trapped and submerged in freezing water until she almost drowned, and then having her ass handed to her by the same employer who had stuck her in here, Kidman wasn't going to pass up on the opportunity for just a small piece of solace.

(She wasn't stupid.)

Going against most of her better judgment, Kidman instinctively pressed herself against the warm source and settled in.

Judging by the lack of objective action, the silent party didn't seem to have a problem with it.

The slightest brush of something against her side drew her attention, as slow as it felt, and Kidman blindly reached down to feel for what it was. Her body felt slow to respond and this was as good of chance as any to get herself killed by something, so she tried to remain as alert as she could focus for. Fumbling around, her fingers brushed against something cool and smooth and the subtle texture identified itself as leather.

Kidman eventually brushed her fingers against leather ones that had fallen to the bedsheets behind her now, presumably after having slid from her ribs; leather fingers had already partly curled themselves against her back by now, loosely curled in the material of her shirt.

Even in her exhausted state, her mind still managed to put the pieces together.

If Joseph was to her left, now behind her, than Sebastian had to have been to her right, which was now in front of her; which meant that she was currently pressed against the Lead Detective for warmth. And part of her wasn't the least bit surprised to have found it with him. Sebastian was always the first one to complain when the weather was too hot, even if it was comfortably warm for everyone else. He had a tendency of overheating easily when outside in the field and sometimes even inside of the patrol car- which if he was driving than he would freeze out everyone else, never minding to listen to their complaints for mercy.

(God, the man could really put off some heat.)

Christ, she really must've been passed out if she didn't even hear them come back in, let alone feel them actually joining her. And considering that she had obviously been pushed to the middle of the bed now, that was quite a feat on her end.

She got the feeling they both had to work themselves up to it though.

It probably took a lot of self-convincing that there was no harm in it and that they were only doing it to recharge themselves for whatever horror awaited them. They were only resting so they could maybe survive for a few more hours.

Kidman toyed with Joseph's unmoving hand, running fingers against the soft leather, remembering the way he had gently comforted her earlier; he always seemed to be a sweetheart under his collective, somewhat dissociative facade. She could remember the subtle touch of his hands in the catacombs, always making sure that she was stable enough to keep up, always making sure she watched her step in the dark- and always offering a hand if she did manage to trip over something.

(And to be fair, they were all tripping over things in those catacombs.)

Joseph had left a fair amount of space between them and Kidman could only presume it was out of respect for her personal space and boundaries. Not that she would've minded- especially given that she was crossing well into Sebastian's just to steal his body heat. The subtle touch of Joseph's hand on her earlier was probably just a check to make sure that she was still next to him, or at least still close by. A reminder that he wasn't alone.

Wrapping her fingers around his wrist, Kidman gave it a firm tug and heard Joseph give a muffled groan as she pulled his arm back around her- forcing the man to pull closer to her as well. Joseph gave no resistance, but in a barely-conscious state there hardly ever was.

And Kidman couldn't deny the sudden warmth of his breath against the back of her neck as she felt him eventually settle against her; his arm loosely draped over her waist now. Wrestling her right arm out from underneath her, Kidman moved her hand to tangle with his leather fingers and gently squeezed them- eventually feeling a return squeeze in response. Maybe she was cheating them both with the gesture, crossing the hint of subtlety between them but... right now in all honesty, he was just another heat source to keep her warm.

Nothing more, nothing less.

At least, other than to know that Joseph was close by and not missing from their small party.

Kidman's left hand had been resting on Sebastian's arm since she had rolled over, loosely trailing fingertips up and down the warmth of his exposed forearm. It was a subconscious habit of hers that she couldn't quite break; Kidman didn't know why she did it but it was something that always made her feel better. Previous bedmates used to complain when it woke them up but Sebastian didn't seem the least bit phased by it.

Then again, the man was probably so deep in sleep right now that he wasn't even registering the touch.

Sebastian probably couldn't even register the way she pressed over the thin scars on his forearm, intrigued by each one for only a few seconds before she moved on.

Fingers traced different patterns up and down his arm over and over again, trailing over the same exposed skin before she eventually moved to tangle them in the wrinkles of his sleeve. She was careful to avoid the open cuts of his bicep, the bloodied tears of his shirt from an unknown creature. Sebastian never did go into detail of just what exactly had attacked him or how the creature had gotten close enough to leave several deep cuts on his body.

And again, the man acted as though they hardly bothered him- just like with his shoulder.

Kidman heard the older Detective give a brief snort before he turned just slightly more in towards her, giving her the opportunity to burrow closer to his chest, to the source of heat. She felt the man move and watched as Sebastian loosely reached one arm over her and gently grasped Joseph's arm with the motion, somewhat pulling the three of them together- squishing her between the two of them.

She figured the man must've been having a dream or something and... in his mind, was viewing her gestures as coming from someone else.

Or maybe he was conscious just enough that he wanted to keep a closer eye on the two of them.

As of lately, Sebastian had gotten increasingly protective over them- not that that kind of decision had come out of nowhere. After the incident at the church, it seemed like the older Detective had no choice but to keep her and Joseph close to him out of fear that something else might happen while they more than just vulnerable. And the man had held to that standard even up to now.

Either way, the closer positions helped to cut out the consistent chill- and frankly, that was all Kidman cared about at the moment.

Kidman pressed her forehead against Sebastian's chest and breathed in the lingering scent of sweat, blood, and gunpowder that remained stuck to his skin and clothing. Her hand moved to rest against his broad shoulder now that his arm was extended, lingering there for a few seconds before her fingers toyed with the cut sleeve of his vest. Now that she was consciously aware of everything around her, she couldn't get herself to fall back to sleep; her body was exhausted but her mind was now awake. And there was no way in Hell that she was going to get up and walk it off either.

She mindlessly tried to coax herself back to sleep by toying with the pieces of Sebastian's torn collar now.

And that was when she felt the odd crawling sensation under her skin.

It made her pause for a moment as she tried to figure out what it was, what it felt like. It was sort of the same feeling she got with a fever, that odd sort of eruption under the skin that made her realize just how sick and weak she was feeling. Sort of like a bubble popping. The very tips of her fingers tingled and burned and there was almost this unsettled sense of pressure in her chest that couldn't be pushed away.

Now that her consciousness was fully awake, it was drawing delicate focus to every part of her body.

Reminding her of how she had pushed herself to the brink of overexertion and that the sickness she was feeling now was a mix of exhaustion and physical weakness. Her body was running off of nothing right now and yet she still continued to push it to move.

Or at least that's what she thought it was.

The feeling was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, it felt like the pressure in her chest was pushing back against her lungs. It sort of felt like that uncomfortable pressure just before puking but Kidman didn't feel that awkward clenching in her gut; she didn't feel the convulsing muscles of her throat either, which had already been forced sore and tortured by her own stomach acid in the catacombs.

Fingers briefly wrinkled the thin folds of Sebastian's open collar between them, using it as a distraction, before fingers slowly uncurled. For a moment, Kidman wasn't entirely convinced that she was the one in control as fingers brushed against the warmth of his neck- feeling her own sense of discomfort subside at the touch. Fingertips lingered against his bronze skin, continuing to take note of the lack of objections before they slowly moved up to curl knuckles against his strong jaw.

In that moment, it felt like all she could focus on was the welcoming heat of his skin.

The slight scratching from an unmaintained five o'clock shadow.

How the discomfort seemed to melt away at the physical contact.

Barely pushing herself from him, it felt like she was moving on autopilot as Kidman curled her hand against Sebastian's jaw and pulled him down to her. Part of it felt influenced, like someone else was pulling the strings to her actions- but at the same time, Kidman was damn well aware of what she was doing. She was fully aware that she could stop, that she could pull away at any given time- easily stopping something that shouldn't be started.

She was doing this on her own free will.

(And she wasn't about to stop.)

With the easy way Sebastian came to her, Kidman realized quickly that the man had met her halfway with the gesture.

As though he was well aware of what she was attempting to do- and once more made no motions to stop her.

His lips felt rough against her own; they were scuffed and chapped, a side effect from the environments that they had been in, dry and battered by all degrees. But there was a hint of warmth still behind them and they came to her with a surprisingly gentle touch. Kidman never would've pegged the Lead Detective to be a soft kisser; he certainly didn't look to be the type.

Then again most of her first-impressions had been strikingly wrong as of late.

But as Sebastian's free hand moved to cup her cheek, pulling her in closer to him, Kidman reminded herself that this was only the first kiss.

(And it never occurred to her how odd that statement was.)

Her fingers pressed firm against his broad jaw, holding him to her, leaving no space between them as she parted her lips and felt his tongue push into her mouth. Sebastian was subtle yet firm in his actions, easily coaxing her to take advantage of the odd situation while she could- while she had been the one to start it.

And Kidman did- with no hesitation.

She had always thought the older man to be attractive in his own right but... she never thought to express it herself; it had always been more fun and it was always safer to look from a distance. But considering what they had gone through, what they were currently going through, any of them (or all of them even) could die at any given moment without warning.

They were fighting to avoid it, fighting to make sure that the opportunity never had a chance to strike- but one could outrun death for only so long.

...

Just the same, this was STEM.

Whatever happened in STEM was simply a simulation played at the psychological level of a drug-induced coma.

It wasn't real.

In the end, whatever happened here, should they live through to the end, would be nothing more than one big nightmare.

And this... this would be nothing but a blurred memory amongst the horror.

There was a gasp of silence as their lips broke apart.

There was just enough time, enough air, enough space for Kidman to hear herself breathe out a quiet ' _wow_ ' before she felt Sebastian pull her in again. And she wasn't entirely certain of what she was amazed by- the awful timing, the awful environment they chose, or just the way they were horrible for each other overall.

To each their own with secrets but the ones she kept would do more damage than STEM ever could.

Kidman raked her fingers through Sebastian's hair, curling them in against his scalp, taking in the mess of brown strands by the handful. She felt the way his fingers barely ran through her hair in return; she felt the subtle brush of his thumb against her forehead as the more dominating touch, even as light as it was. And then she felt the slight sting as Sebastian touched the settled bruise on her temple and carefully moved out of its path.

And even Kidman had to admit that she was surprised by his attention to detail, attention to touch; Sebastian was careful with her facial bruises, careful where he placed his hand even in the midst of kissing her.

(She couldn't remember the last time someone had paid that much attention to her.)

For a second time, they broke apart- but this time Kidman held him at a distance.

Their lips were barely touching, just barely hovering against one another's. She could feel his warm breath against her lips; she could count the different breaths he took in the same slow, lumbering rhythm. It was calm- he was calm. Something she wasn't entirely expecting. Kidman moved her hand across his cheek and left it there, allowing her to run her thumb along Sebastian's lower lip- feeling the warmth, the heat she had left behind on it.

She didn't look at him, she didn't meet his eyes.

Even her own were just barely open.

She didn't know what it was she was waiting for.

Maybe she was looking for a sign of protest that just needed some time to catch up to them. Maybe she was looking for an outside sign because it sure as hell wasn't going to be coming from her.

Kidman curled her fingers down his cheek until they tucked underneath his chin, allowing her to pull Sebastian in for a third time.

(Fuck it.)

(Things were going to hell and they were getting dragged in with them, what else was there to lose?)

Kidman felt a light squeeze against her other hand and remembered right then that Joseph was still present with them. The other Detective was still asleep but the quiet exhale behind her gave notice to the occasional subconscious twitch that came with it. Maybe the man was dreaming, maybe he was experiencing a nightmare like she had. Joseph had remarked a few times before that he was a light sleeper- that something as little as floorboards creaking or a knock on someone else's door could wake him up.

So it could be taken as good news that he hadn't woken up yet.

Either by subconscious forces or outside ones.

Kidman squeezed Joseph's hand in return, glad to be reminded of his presence- despite her attention being locked on Sebastian at the moment. The returned gesture was enough to cause Joseph to pull his arm back some, just enough so that his palm was pressed firmly against her stomach now. It was a barely noticeable touch but Kidman felt it send a shiver through her- either by just the contact alone or by the still fresh bruises on her abdomen. But as his hand settled and as Joseph seemed to fall still once more, her attention was completely focused on the resting presence on her stomach.

There was hesitation as Kidman curled her fingers tightly between his own before she slowly pushed Joseph's hand underneath her shirt- allowing the cool leather of his gloves to brush her bare skin.

(Curiosity.)

There was another instinctive shiver in reaction to the touch, to the foreign material soft against her body.

Untangling fingers, she carefully guided his hand instead as she felt the way his palm curved perfectly over her waist.

There was another gentle squeeze, this time against firm skin, and it seemed to be Joseph's reaction to the subtle change.

Kidman let the touch linger there, with her fingers half-curled around his wrist now.

And then she felt Joseph's palm slowly moving up along her side, following the curve of her body as it moved- all without her guidance this time. She felt the weight behind his touch and felt it stir under her skin; her head was already split in different pieces, some of which were going, processing faster than others. It was hard to keep up with the different signals her brain was receiving, but the idea of Joseph touching her without her forcing him to was... something completely new. Something somewhat exhilarating.

He kept a soothing, skirting kind of motion as his palm moved over the bruised mess of her ribs- ensuring that his wandering touch didn't draw injury to her.

Kidman felt herself shiver as warm lips brushed against the back of her neck, teasing her with fleeting, would-be embraces.

And then they touched, sealing the thin space between them.

She didn't even try to deny the soft moan that arose from her throat at the combined actions that worked against her, at the work of different lips against different parts of her body. It stirred a slow, warm sensation through her- starting in her belly and moving up through her body, igniting that persistent burning feeling in her fingertips.

Maybe she shouldn't've been as enthralled by the actions as she was.

Maybe she should stop to think the situation through.

But she didn't.

Eventually one of them would cave, one of them would come to their senses and call for an abrupt stop- but until then, maybe they just needed this.

(Maybe _she_ just needed it.)

There was a second gasp as she and Sebastian broke apart once more.

Kidman let herself linger on the sense of warmth that remained on her lips and in her mouth. She lingered on the bitter taste of sweat and blood that Sebastian left behind, although she was certain that she didn't leave behind anything much better- just more blood, maybe a hint of bitterness too. The older Detective's taste and touch hovered on her tongue and on her skin, almost like it refused to let her forget.

And it seemed difficult to imagine that she ever would.

But that sense of heat left behind an insatiable hunger, an addiction.

One that curled like fingers under her skin and pushed in through her ribs.

Kidman rolled back towards Joseph now- her free hand moving to tightly grip his arm as she did so. She could still feel the burning impression of his lips on her neck, the phantom motion of his hand skirting her ribs. She felt Joseph's fingers curl against the flat of her ribcage now, displaced by her own movement; she felt the way his hand was tangled in her shirt now, the white material bundled loose around his wrist.

And maybe Joseph knew exactly what she was doing, what she wanted.

He must have seeing as the sudden tug of her shirt had her pulled in towards him.

Kidman fell in with the motion and felt her lips touch his own for only a few seconds before the need for that same kind of warmth overwhelmed her, before it consumed her. She wasn't looking to replace or challenge it- she just needed it. Giving in to the control, Kidman dug her fingers into Joseph's jaw and let herself into his mouth the first chance he gave her- and she relished in hearing the soft moan that came with it.

Joseph's lips were softer, smoother; his tongue slower and far more willing to savor the moment while it was present.

If this was a different situation, she might've asked what had taken him so long. Why he would wait until now to move from off-the-cuff feelings to something a little easier for her to confirm.

But this situation hardly called for questioning.

She hardly wanted to bother with it.

All that mattered was that he was kissing her now- and she was happy with it.

The feeling of coarse fingers brushing against her exposed abdomen had her squirming at the sensitive touch, feeling the way her muscles twitched at the open vulnerability. Kidman heard herself moan quietly at the touch- and then louder as she felt Sebastian press his lips against the curve of her open neck. Her back arched at the familiar warm touch, now feeling the heat of his mouth against her throbbing pulse. Once more it felt like her mind flatlined at the combined touch- at the feeling of Joseph's lips pressed to her own, and the feeling of Sebastian's against her neck.

Joseph's hand pulled free of her shirt, leaving it a wrinkled, half-bundled mess around her ribs.

Making it easier for him to pluck the half-broken buttons loose.

The thin, dirty material seemed to fall too easily to his steady hand as Joseph pulled each button apart with one repeating motion.

Despite complaining about the chill before, Kidman didn't hesitate to assist him in pulling her shirt open. It felt like it was on the brink of ripping at the seams anyways, making it feel like it was crumbling apart in his hand- like it was falling off of her body with every little motion. She felt a leather palm brush up along the front of her ribs, brush between her breasts, before it moved to curl fingers against her jaw, tilting her head in towards him.

Sebastian's fingers continued to stroke her abdomen, still causing her abdominal muscles to pull tight, before they moved to curl against her ribs.

Her own fingers stumbled to correct themselves as she released the tangled hold she had on the both of them. Correcting the crossed mess of her arms, Kidman blindly moved to curl her fingers through their hair, dragging the both of them closer to her. A moan vibrated in her throat as she felt the subtle bite Sebastian left on her neck- feeling the curling press of his fingers against her ribs as a secondary action.

The air was back to being hot and stagnant again.

Between half-stumbling kisses and breath mostly caught in her throat, it felt like there was little room to breathe.

But part of her liked that subtle sense of suffocation, of asphyxiation.

(She had shared beds with multiple partners before, with the intention of sex.)

(The heat, the stumbling of breath, was all a part of the mess.)

The tight fit of her squeezed between them brought out the beads of sweat that were collecting on her skin, pooling in the nape of her neck and down the curve of her spine. Kidman could feel the heat between her legs, felt it growing up into her belly, feeling it pulling tight across her muscles. She still quivered every time a hand brushed across the landscape of her stomach, bringing out the heightened sensitivity that only seemed to grow where she was touched.

Jesus Christ, it was really hot right now.

This had to be a record for her for still having her clothes on while in bed with two partners.

(Ironically enough, her actual work partners.)

Kidman sucked in a sharp inhale as she felt Joseph's lips pull from her own, as she felt them brush against her chin, her jaw, before he moved down to her neck just the same; spreading heat to the cold bruises in the form of cold hands. She hadn't even realized her eyes had been closed the whole time and only noticed when she rolled them up towards the ceiling, watching as her vision blurred as it tried to adjust to the dim light in the room.

It was useless to let them adjust though as she felt Sebastian's hand move to her jaw, pulling her back to him now- and she greeted him with warmth and open lips. She didn't care that she had barely had a chance to regain her breath; she sucked in air between the small breaks between their lips, mostly pulling in the warm breath from his mouth instead. It left her breathing heavy, left her trembling between every embrace that lingered for seconds at a time.

Their hands were still touching her, still stroking over ribs and bruises.

Joseph's fingers had trailed down to her abdomen, running the same path from the dip of her ribs to the dip of her naval again and again. It was soothing, almost comforting even, as it gave her a simple action to focus on. His hand never dropped below her naval though, never even skirting the curve of her underbelly. And that alone almost made her frustrated.

The heat pooling between her legs now was near impossible to ignore as she felt it growing slick against her thighs.

It left her with a growing urge to feel someone's hand between her thighs, to feel someone's fingers rubbing her, pushing into her, thrusting into the unbearable heat that spilled wet at the thought.

Her hands fumbled as they released the two men and moved down to her jeans, fumbling still as she worked to unbutton them. Kidman hadn't noticed just how badly her hands were shaking as she near struggled to pull her jeans open. She pushed down on the waistband, sliding her jeans off of her hips, just enough to relieve the tight pressure that knotted between her legs- just enough to give herself some breathing room.

It didn't offer much in the grand scheme of things.

It only drew attention to just how aching, to just how hot she was.

Kidman didn't know how much longer she could last with this; she always was more like gasoline than kerosene.

(Patience was never her strong front either.)

She felt Joseph's fingers run the length of her abdomen once more; she felt them stop at the dip of her naval once more before they decided to trail lower along the curve of her underbelly. It was a new occurrence, a change of pace. It left her oddly still- the breath caught in her throat as Kidman waited. Fingers touched the sloping dip between her hips, feeling and toying with the way her skin pulled tight at the gesture. Joseph lingered, waiting- making her wait with him.

Leather fingers perched on the boundary of her hips seemed to tremble before they slowly pushed down between her legs.

Just the thought alone of being touched had Kidman on the brink of climax, but the resulting touch that pressed between the folds of her outer labia was enough to convince her to hold out.

(This was what she wanted.)

(She couldn't just throw in the towel seconds before the game even started.)

Kidman broke lips with Sebastian and drew in stagnant breaths as she felt the exploring touch of Joseph's fingers rubbing against her; as she felt his fingers pushing between her wet folds and spreading them apart. Joseph used a light touch, a teasing sort of gesture that carried little weight behind it- but the motion alone was enough. It made her more aware of how slick she was, of how every rubbing motion only coated his fingers more, making each touch wet and smooth.

Her fingers twitched impulsively as she reached down and overlapped his hand once more.

As she guided his fingers to where she wanted them.


	4. [Haunting]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: Foreplay/fingering, Couple of swear words, Undressing, Body exploration, Mention of injuries, Explicit Sexual Content/double penetration.

Kidman pushed them between her folds, feeling their mixed touch roll her inner labia between their fingers. She dug her heels into the bedding as her thighs began to twitch in response, threatening to start shaking already.

Joseph was willing to follow, willing to mimic her movements as she dragged his fingers to the swollen head of her clit. Kidman felt her body shiver at the sensitivity of the organ, at the overworked nerves that heightened any and all sense of touch. She felt the careful way he rolled his fingers on top of it, working out a rhythm- one that was only slightly disrupted by the silver stud pierced through her clitoral hood; a fun choice in the days of her youth.

And the piercing easily caught Joseph's attention as he briefly toyed with the small stud, rolling his fingers over it, and feeling the way it moved back and forth with each stroke. He hooked a finger under her hood and pushed up, slightly pinching the piercing between two fingers- causing Kidman's hips to push up into the motion.

She let her hand pull away as Joseph easily seemed able to handle himself.

She bit into her bottom lip at his continued focus on her clit, rubbing and teasing it until her legs were firmly shaking from the touch.

Joseph was steady and firm with every stroke and only stopped just long enough to push his fingers between her folds now and again, just long enough to get them wet again, to make his stroking slick and smooth again.

Kidman could hear herself cursing under her breath, repeating the same word over and over again.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck_

_fuck._

She dug her fingers into Sebastian's jaw and turned her head enough to brush her lips against his own once more; Kidman felt that exchange of heated breath, breathing him in and out.

_"Touch me."_

There seemed to be no hesitation on his part as Sebastian ran his hand down along her abdomen and let it sink between her thighs just the same. Everything inside of her head seemed to go louder as Kidman felt his fingers push between her labia, as she felt his fingers rub between them, coating themselves in her warm arousal. Each motion was firm and direct; Sebastian clearly knew what he was doing as he rocked his fingers against her, damn near teasing her, before he eased two of them inside of her.

She damn near came at the sensation alone.

Kidman heard her own voice pitch at the penetration; she felt her back arch and felt her hips bear down against his fingers.

There was no denying just how welcoming her body was to the motion, how welcoming it was to them alone.

There was a need to be had- and they were giving it to her.

The burning under her skin continued to spread throughout as Kidman fell into the combined motions of their fingers against her. Joseph's were still smooth and steady, moving in a circling motion against her clit; his fingers were just slightly hooked underneath the hood, giving a combination of broad and focused strokes. Sebastian's fingers were heavy and rough, ensuring that she felt every consistent thrust that pushed inside of her, ensuring she felt the way they curled against the rooted nerves of her clit.

Kidman could feel their hot breath on her neck; she felt it pooling against her skin- and realized then that neither of them were kissing her.

Maybe they wanted her to just focus on what was going on down below.

Maybe they didn't want to distract her.

Her hands moved to tangle in their hair once more, giving herself something to distract her hands with, to keep them from shaking.

Her hips pushed into each motion, into each action, working with them as the trembling in her legs only seemed to grow worse. Sebastian and Joseph kept their movements, their rhythms consistent and firm, never speeding up or slowing down. They chose to work her at the same pace, in alternating strokes, and it was just enough to have her linger in the madness of it.

In some ways it helped to pull her off the edge, off of that high, allowing her to wallow in the build-up- allowing her to enjoy the simmering knot in her stomach that lingered on and on with each stroke. And if there was one thing that Kidman had learned in all her years of bed-sharing, it was always the build up that sold the ending. Make things go too fast and there wasn't much to enjoy; there was no anticipation, there was nothing to work towards. But on the same hand, make it last too long and you lose it before you get to enjoy it; it burns out before anything even happens.

Get the perfect balance and the world goes right again.

Kidman tilted her head back, breathing in slow and heavy, letting herself get caught up in the heat.

(It had been months now since she had last gotten laid.)

(And it really didn't help her case that both of her partners now were affectionally attractive.)

She bit into her lip once more as she felt that perfect balance starting to hit.

And she gave in to it the moment it hit peak.

Kidman felt her body near stiffen at the release before the shaking and trembling took over, before it felt like every ounce of blood in her body rushed to her head. Fingers curled and drug down as her nails dug hard into their jaws instead, drawing out harsh red lines against conflicting skin. And she held the piercing grip as they continued to work her throughout the finish, drawing it out for as long as her body was willing.

Drawing it out before the oversensitivity kicked in.

And her fingers stayed clinging onto them, never letting go until they did.

The aftermath was sweltering and sticky; breathless and gasping.

There was aching in her legs, or at least with what little she could still feel from them.

Panting, Kidman felt the lingering ache that remained as fingers finally withdrew, leaving her with the uncurling muscles of her abdomen. Any sort of pain she had had before resulting from injuries was now taken over by the subsequent cramping of her stomach. It was that good kind of pain though- the euphoric kind that was leftover from a job well done.

However, the aftermath left the three of them in this odd sort of state.

Now that the immediate issue had been taken care of, did they dare continue ahead or should they stop themselves while things were calm? This shouldn't have happened and it shouldn't be happening as is- nothing was going to change that fact. Nothing other than the fact that it was happening and they were doing this and... honestly, why would they stop now? Why should they?

Kidman was pretty certain that she was going crazy enough as it was.

As she had gone before.

Pushing one's own boundaries was always a dangerous game- but in this instance the end would certainly justify the means.

And right now all she could focus on was how there was only so much they could do in a position like this.

(And how they needed to change that.)

Kidman pushed herself up into a seated position, feeling the lingering ache between her legs still, before she reached down to tug off her heels. Fingers fumbled with undoing the laces enough to get the shoes off but once she could, she did- and she tossed them aside without a thought of where they would land. Her mind was barely keeping pace with what her body wanted as she went through the motions first, hardly even giving them a second thought.

The weary mattress squeaked as she shifted her legs underneath her and pushed herself up to her knees.

Fingers immediately went to work on stripping off her holster, pulling it and her shirt off in one go before they too were tossed aside.

She was no longer bothered by the thought of a Haunted, or any other fucked up STEM creation possibly walking in on them. As vulnerable as they were in this moment, it didn't quite feel like that; it actually felt the opposite, it felt like they were invulnerable, untouchable by anything or anyone other than each other.

Kidman easily welcomed the cool air back against her skin now.

She welcomed the chill that ran opposite against the beads of sweat that rolled down her back.

It didn't take long for them to follow her lead though, for the mattress to squeak at their movements as well, for their hands to be back against her.

Kidman felt Sebastian's hand first as he grabbed at her jaw and pulled her around towards him, as he brought her lips back against his. A low moan curled up from her throat as she felt lips part and felt the warm company of his tongue once again. Rough hands moved to circle around her hips, turning them, and pulling them up against his own.

Her hands moved to his chest and she let her palms admire the broad shape beneath them with slow, exploring motions; Sebastian was built broad and it showed. Fingers grabbed on to his collar once more before they moved down along the peeking folds of his shirt, dragging down to where it was tucked underneath his vest. And Kidman didn't hesitate to start unbuttoning it.

Constant wear made the buttons all too easy to pull out- and it didn't hurt that he kept the first couple buttons undone to begin with.

Kidman made it to the end of his vest in no time and quickly moved her hands to work on the thin shirt underneath it.

(It would be easier to knock both of them out at once.)

But it was getting increasingly hard to concentrate on the buttons in front of her as Kidman felt Joseph at the curve of her neck once again. As she felt the cool heat of his lips against her skin, as she felt the lingering marks he left behind with each embrace; small red rings against her pale, bruised skin. But Joseph seemed to know how delicate it felt, how wounded she already was, and kept his touches light; his lips skimmed over the black patches that spotted the backs of her shoulders and the small curve of her spine at the base of her neck.

Joseph's hands cupped lightly against the back of her ribs before they slowly ran up along her back.

He managed to unclip her bra in one motion and as his hands continued up to her shoulders, he eased the black straps off and slid them down along her arms.

Kidman pushed into his hands as Joseph slid the cups of her bra off of her breasts and exposed them to the desperately needed cool air. Her fingers stumbled through the last of the buttons of Sebastian's shirt, which she had already tugged loose, before she quickly disposed of her unwanted bra. Her hands grabbed at the mess of Sebastian's shirt and vest and made the motions to tug them off next- forgetting about his chest holster in the process.

But the Lead Detective pulled away from her, breaking lips, before he started to remove the holster himself.

And Kidman took the opportunity to change positions as she twisted around and grabbed Joseph by the lips. They were still incredibly warm, no doubt warmed further by the curve of her neck and shoulders, which were now bearing the soft impressions of his lips on them. Her hands pushed him back on to his knees as Kidman moved to straddle his thighs with her own, as she pulled herself into his lap. She felt Joseph's hands move to curl against her thighs, partly supporting but also holding her against him.

She was definitely quicker with Joseph's shirt and vest than she had been with Sebastian's.

Or maybe she was just more desperate as Kidman was certain that she had dislodged a button or two in her haste.

Rough lips pressed against the center of her back and Kidman winced at the lingering sensitivity that remained in her wounded vertebra- although the warm hands that circled around her abdomen made the sensitivity quick to be forgotten about. Mentally, she was damn near begging for the hands to touch at her breasts; for them to grab, grope, whatever, just something- _anything_.

Instead the hands lingered, curled loose against her belly.

Tormenting her.

Pushing Joseph's shirt and vest off of his shoulders, Kidman dropped her lips into the curve of his neck- taking advantage of the skin that was so rarely exposed. She could almost feel how erratic his pulse was, how every breath sort of trembled in his throat, and it only reminded her of just how hard her own heart was beating.

Kidman felt Sebastian's hands move away from her abdomen and felt them grab at the bundled mess of Joseph's shirt and vest as well. Sebastian used Joseph's partly discarded uniform as leverage as he jerked his younger partner forward- practically squeezing Kidman between the two of them.

She briefly bit at the side of his neck as she heard Joseph groan, no doubt from the heavy presence of Sebastian's tongue between his lips.

Hands dropped from Joseph's chest, allowing Sebastian to get rid of his shirt and vest, which the man did so in one clean tug, as Kidman began to undo Joseph's belt next; it was easy to get open and even easier to pull loose and toss aside. With his arms freed from his dismantled uniform, Joseph moved one hand from her thigh and reached behind her as he tugged at Sebastian's belt until it came apart.

It was a mess of eager hands and turning positions as they helped one another out of every piece of clothing that was left.

And they made damn sure every article was gone and out of sight.

Kidman didn't hold herself back from touching the familiar yet new bodies that were pressed against her.

Her hands found their way around Sebastian's rounded arms and strong waist, admiring the subtle curves and shapes that had formed under bronze skin. Kidman allowed herself to linger on the faint scars that presented themselves to wandering fingertips- although she was careful with the tender bruises and fresh cuts that accompanied them. She had always been curious about the scars on his right cheek but at the moment they were off limits given the deep cuts that were scattered around them.

Her fingers found the shredded mess at the back of his left shoulder, right where the Keeper's hammer had come down on him, just barely catching him in the swing. And it was a mess of ripped skin half caked over with blood, half swollen enough to stop the bleeding. Sebastian groaned when she touched it and Kidman pulled her hand away at the sound- more concerned for him than her own need to explore.

They were all pretty bruised and banged up.

But searching hands were careful and tender in their explorations.

Kidman brushed her lips against Sebastian's blackened knuckles every time he moved to cup her face; her fingers traced the dried, bloodied scraps that had split open the back of his hand.

His skin was still radiating with heat but Kidman could feel it almost tremble under her touch as she traced the curve of his collarbones with her fingers and lips.

The older man had never really gone out of his way to present himself in a proper or at least decent way- but he was in better shape than she thought. Hell, Kidman had slept with men almost half his age who weren't nearly in this good of health. It had always been easy to admire the way his uniform fit to his tall, broad body, but this was far more rewarding- and it had certainly been worth the wait.

And at the same time, Kidman didn't hesitate to run her hands over Joseph's slim shoulders and narrow hips. She didn't expect him to be nearly as fit as Sebastian was but his body was still firm and toned; it was well taken care of, which didn't surprise her. Joseph was fairly health conscious and he was probably the only person who properly used the department's gym facilities.

And maybe it was just a mental thing but Joseph seemed more sensitive to touch; he reacted to every stroke of her hand, to every brush of her lips against his throat. Kidman heard him moan softly as her fingers gently prodded at the pale scars that covered his left side- feeling the small knots of hardened tissue underneath his skin.

(She made a mental note to ask him about them later.)

Joseph was always one for modesty so it was rare to catch him outside of his uniform- even just seeing his hands without his gloves on was a big deal; although he always just laughed the notion of it off. There was nothing special to them other than the fact that he was just always wearing gloves over them. But now Kidman could run her hands over his naked shoulders, chest, and ribs; she could let her fingers wrap around his waist and hips, or stroke them against the insides of his thighs.

At the same time, Kidman could feel warm lips pressed against her shoulders and the back of her neck.

She felt fingers trace the curve of her spine and the curves of her ribs and hips.

Kidman felt hands cup her breasts, finally giving them the attention they desperately needed- and the attention never ended as hands switched out from time to time, always ensuring that someone was grabbing them, squeezing them. Unoccupied hands moved down between her legs, squeezing at her thighs, reminding her of what they were capable of doing, reminding her that the heat still remained.

Reminding her that she had everything she wanted, and more, right here.

She loved the touching, the kissing, the hands, the lips, the mouths, but that could only take her so far; she wanted to go further, she had to go further.

Kidman fell against Joseph once more, feeling the heat of his mouth, the warming grip of his hands against her ribs. She pulled herself into his lap, her fingers raking through his hair, taking easy pleasure in roughing it up, in breaking it out of its sculpted mold. Her lips are harder against his own this time, she could almost feel the clashing of their teeth as she bore against him.

She pushed her hips to his own, overtaking them, and felt the way his cock pressed against her abdomen with the motion. Kidman heard the quiet groan from Joseph's throat ease between their lips before she gradually began rolling her hips against him, ensuring that they were on the same wavelength with this- ensuring that he wanted this as much as she did. And given the brief twitch of Joseph's cock against her stomach, she knew what the answer was.

"Fuck me," Kidman whispered between biting breaths.

And Joseph obliged as his hands moved to grab her firmly by the hips, squeezing them in his hold, before he pulled them up, and angled them above his own.

It felt like everything was a mess and that this situation was only spiraling them further downward, but she held on to the insanity of it.

Kidman slipped a hand between them, fingers brushing down along Joseph's abdomen, before she wrapped them around his cock. A firm hold kept him steady as she brought her hips down on top of him- following the weighted guidance of his hands. And the pressure of him entering her, the flow of her body stretching around him as he pushed in, it was enough to squeeze the air out of her chest. Kidman gasped at the heat, at the movement, feeling the heat that spiraled up from her loins as it flooded the space between her legs.

There was so much aching, so much tension, now released by his presence.

Joseph carefully brought her down on him, keeping her steady with his hands, and allowing her to move both of her hands to his shoulders. Kidman felt rather than heard the stammered moan that escaped her as she felt the careful, subtle thrusting underneath her; the cautious motions taken to make sure that she was aroused enough to take him. Her mind completely blanked out as cautious motions turned to slow movements, each one rocking themselves against her. But she knew what her limit was, knew what she could handle, and felt her own impatience, her own hunger take over. Kidman squeezed at Joseph's shoulders, hearing him grunt softly at the gesture, before she used her own weight to slide herself down him- sheathing him inside of her.

And it was hard to ignore the trembling that took over.

The digging of fingers into his skin as she reviled in the way he filled her.

Kidman settled against his thighs, savoring the close space between them.

Joseph made it hard for her to keep her thoughts in check- not that she had been doing that great of a job with it as of late. Her fingers curled in on his shoulders, savoring the way they filled her palms as she raked her nails over his skin in a clutching motion. Kidman felt the way Joseph almost mimicked the gesture as his hands curled against her hips, squeezing them as he seemed to be enjoying her as much as she was enjoying him.

She let the emotions, the sensations settle in.

If only for a few seconds before the heat in her belly demanded more.

Kidman shifted her weight forward onto her knees, centering her force in her hands she began rocking herself against him, using Joseph's shoulders as leverage. She rolled her hips in slow, steady motions, allowing her to feel and linger on the wet heat between them. Joseph's hands pulled at her hips, giving her more leverage while also partly guiding her movements- sharing the control of the rhythm between them.

Kidman felt Joseph's mouth drop to the curve of her neck, giving her the freedom to tilt her head back as she rode her hips against him- feeling each and every steady thrust between them. She was stuck in an endless cycle of never wanting this to end but also desperately needing a finish just to cool off the heat inside of her. The same heat that burned underneath her skin and made the tips of every finger feel like pins and needles.

It was constantly begging to be satisfied and yet wanting to be pleasured at the same time.

But when Kidman felt those rough palms still skirting across her stomach, when she felt the continuous heat against the back of her neck, she realized she didn't want this to end. Not so soon. Not before she could drain it of everything it had to offer her.

She blindly reached back behind her with one hand and managed to scrape her nails against Sebastian's jaw on her way to latching her fingers against the back of his neck. Kidman pulled the Lead Detective forward, pulling him down to her as she turned her head enough to catch the corner of his lips with her own. She didn't realize until then just how badly she was trembling, able to feel her lips shivering against Sebastian's parted ones.

"What are you waiting for?" Kidman pressed, as she pushed herself back against Sebastian with the next roll of her hips.

For the first time since this ordeal had started, it felt like there was hesitation.

Sebastian's hands stalled against her stomach before they slowly moved to grab at her hips- overlaying Joseph's hands with his own. Kidman could hear her heart pounding in her ears and felt damn near weightless as Sebastian pushed her hips forward before he eased his own behind her. She could already feel the warm heat of his skin against hers once more and felt that odd sense of comfort at his close presence, at the subtle contact between them.

It seemed like she felt the safest when she was wedged between her two partners.

When nothing could get to her unless it went through them.

One hand pulled back and Kidman felt the way Sebastian steadied himself before he pushed in against her.

And she felt butterflies in her stomach at the motion.

Kidman bit into her lip once more as she felt the tip of his cock push between her already separated folds, as she felt him push into her already filled body. It was indescribable as she felt Sebastian push himself in further, gently rocking his hips against her, easing into her.

But the wet heat between her legs caused her to tremble in his hold.

It pushed her to push back on him, desperate to have him just the same.

Sebastian grunted in her ear as both of his hands rested on her hips now, as he and Joseph helped to pull her down against them, ensuring that she could feel the both of them inside of her now.

Kidman's lips parted but no noise came out as every breath of air in her chest struggled to escape her tight throat. She could feel the pressure, the heat, the tightness that boiled inside of her; she could barely move without feeling them in combination, she could barely breathe without being reminded of the breathlessness in her lungs. She was no stranger to this form of sex but she had never experienced it like this.

Once more she pressed tight between them as Sebastian and Joseph slowly began to move again, thrusting in one motion, allowing her to take in and feel every inch of movement. And it felt like it was almost too much as Kidman felt the rolling thunder in her stomach getting tighter with each thrust. Even as slow and cautious as it was to start, she found it hard to keep up and keep track between them.

Their fingers were interlaced against her hips, doing most of the guiding, most of the work, allowing her to settle in and just relax.

Kidman leaned back against Sebastian's chest, allowing herself to be taken by the movements underneath her. She moved her hands to overlap with theirs, feeling the way the two men moved to interlace her fingers just as well.

It felt too damn easy for them to fall into the rhythm, to fall into sync with one another.

Kidman felt the way Sebastian and Joseph would sometimes combine their thrusts, allowing her to feel both of them moving at once, allowing her to be taken by them both simultaneously. And sometimes they would find a way to offset the rhythm, alternating their thrusts to keep her on her toes, to keep her feeling the motions over and over again.

She got so caught up in the motions, she hardly felt the way their hands had pulled away from her hips- but she felt warm palms as they began to roam over her body. Kidman felt Joseph's hands slide down along her thighs before he wrapped his fingers against the backs of her knees. The slightest squeeze had her squirming at the sensitivity. It would've made the threat of buckling her legs out from underneath her if she wasn't already kneeling; instead the motion only seemed to tease her, causing her to squeeze her thighs against Joseph's each time in response.

Sebastian clutched at her hips once before he pushed a hand between her thighs- and Kidman felt her hips buck as his fingers began teasing her swollen clit once again. He too seemed to be taken by her inappropriate piercing and teased the silver stud with the pad of his thumb.

She could hear herself breathing, damn near panting at this point.

Each breath was almost forced between her lips as she had to remind herself to keep breathing, to keep some focus on keeping herself conscious. Although the overwhelming heat that grew wetter between her thighs was making it difficult to focus on anything other than the moving thrusts that kept her pinned between them.

One hand wrapped itself around Sebastian's wrist, while the other latched onto the back of Joseph's neck.

Kidman could hear each of them breathing heavy and hard; she felt the warmth of their breath on her skin, felt the heat of it filling the air between them. And it was the heat that almost made it harder for them to breathe, making them have to force each breath a little harder than the last. Soon enough all she could hear was them panting, gasping, each breath damn near amplified in the dead room around them.

She felt lips at her neck again.

She felt fingers digging in, blindly grasping at every inch of skin between them, as every thrust began to rattle her to her core-


	5. Leverage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't had the chance to do so individually but thank you so much for the kind reviews! I'm glad to hear that the last chapter went over well ;3c

Kidman woke with an audible gasp half-caught in her throat, with her body already in the motion of pushing itself up into a seated position.

The sudden head rush from the movement left her feeling dazed and struggling to catch her breath through the heavy, panicked gasps that managed to push free from her chest. Her vision was spinning and it was blurred in the corners, but it didn't stop her from looking around for what felt like second or third time now. And despite what she had seen before- _hell_ , what she had felt even... the entire bed space was empty except for her.

Her hands refused to believe it as she reached out and touched the undisturbed sheets, bundling them between her fingers. There was no hint of warmth to them, no hint of disturbance; it was like they hadn't been moved in decades.

She was the only one here.

She had been the first and only person in this bed after God knows how long.

... That couldn't be right.

She had seen them here, all three of them.

Kidman had seen, felt, heard everything; she could still hear the damn mattress and headboard squeaking in time with them.

She forced herself to look around the room once more, needing more evidence, more something to pinpoint just what she had seen, and where or when it had occurred. And as she continued to look around, Kidman felt herself growing more and more uneasy at the subtle changes around the room. The lounge chairs that had once been brought closer to the bed were now sitting in their original placements; their rounded feet sticking perfectly to only spot on the floor not covered in dust. Once more, they had never been moved, let alone even been sat in- not since before this mansion had been abandoned.

But they had been moved, they had been preoccupied- she had seen it.

She was still having a hard time breathing, having a hard time calming herself down; it felt like she was on the brink of hyperventilating over something that she still couldn't get a grasp on. The sudden break between sleeping and raw consciousness hit her like whiplash and left her reeling. It left her vulnerable enough that she wasn't entirely sure which of those two realms she was currently stuck in.

Her fingers were now digging into the thin sheets beneath her, collecting the stiff material against her sweating palms, and threatening to pull it off of the mattress.

Just what- just what the _fuck_ did she see then?!

She was still fully clothed and nothing seemed to be missing.

It wasn't like someone else had quickly re-dressed her either.

After a brief check over, there was no physical evidence to be found that anything had even happened to her; there weren't any kind of bodily reactions either, nothing more than a thick coating of cold sweat that clung to the skin. But Kidman swore she could still feel those warm sensations lingering about on her neck, on her face, on her shoulders and chest; the phantom memories tugged and pulled at her. There was some heat to her skin still but she desperately pinned the blame of it on the fever she had been battling with for hours now.

She didn't want to admit that it could've been from anything other than that.

Fingers lingered where Kidman could still feel lips pressed to her neck, where she could still feel vivid memories of heat and pressure, of someone's lips, mouth, and tongue sucking and kissing at her skin.

And the memory was enough to have her shivering at the thought of it.

So what then? So something had both happened and yet didn't happen all in one go?

She was still dressed; she still had her holster and heels on.

The bed was completely undisturbed with the exception of what she had made of it.

The chairs hadn't been moved in the slightest.

All evidence would point that it had been just a dream.

So why the fuck did it feel so real?

Sure, she had had those sort of fantasy dreams before but she had never woke up feeling like that. She had never woke up still feeling the movement between her legs, still feeling the heat on her neck, and the hands over her body. And what she would usually just shake off and greet with a cold shower was now clinging to her, acting like some kind of absent memory.

Christ, she knew falling asleep in this fucking place was a bad idea.

Kidman sighed and partly brought her knees towards her chest, propping her elbows onto them as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she whispered.

It had to be the overexertion, the physical stress she was putting herself through.

Her mental game wasn't exactly strong either.

This was just STEM's way of getting to her while Ruvik couldn't- or at least that's what she was going to tell herself.

The sharp echo of gunshot blasting from the corridor outside caused Kidman to jump and damn near fall off the bed as she scrambled to her feet. Her elevated sense of confusion turned into straight panic and adrenaline, which only got worse at the sound of distant yelling just before two more gunshots rang out.

Any and all thoughts of whatever had happened before were pushed from her mind as Kidman felt herself bolting for the door; her fingers already grabbing at her gun and freeing it from its holster. Whatever she had imagined before was just that, imaginary, a hallucination even; it was over with and now reality was sinking in and her partners were in trouble.

Pulling the door open, Kidman found herself back in the corridor, gun at the ready.

Only to have everything be dead quiet around her again.

And the sudden silence, the sudden stillness was not settling well with her.

It felt like her heart was in her damn throat as Kidman looked to her right first, looking down towards the library; she couldn't visibly see anything, let alone something moving, so she had to go off the assumption that it was still empty and cleared of Haunted. Hell, they had gone through the library guns blazing for the most part, and Sebastian had run a couple perimeter walks through it already, so there was a slim chance that it had been overrun again.

Looking to her left next, Kidman felt something in her gut automatically twist at the sight. It was like a tight knot had formed itself in her stomach, a premonition that something wasn't right even though she couldn't visibly make judge of it.

Something went wrong while she had her guard down.

Forcing herself down the short corridor, Kidman tried to ignore the shaking in her hands as she kept her gun drawn in front of her.

_[You're better than this, Kid.]_

It felt like everything was moving too fast.

She couldn't keep up with whatever the hell was going on. It felt like she was back in that damn church again, hysterical and screaming nonsense, unable to control any aspect of herself. Like someone had hit the reset button on the calm portion of her brain, threatening to unravel everything she just barely managed to recover for herself.

Keeping her shoulder to the wall at her left, Kidman cocked her head to try and get a better look down into the adjacent hallway. It was a dead end on the left wall, which she used as a safety barrier to keep her back protected. Kidman could feel that knot only getting tighter as she eased further down the corridor, eventually stepping out around the corner.

Her gun followed the reveal of the corridor, pointing itself straight down towards the single doorway at the far end.

And that was when her eyes were drawn to where her two partners were on the floor about halfway up the corridor.

Sebastian was sitting while Joseph was knelt down beside him, one hand firmly gripping the older man on the shoulder.

Neither of them seemed to notice her presence.

Kidman should've questioned just what the hell was going on and what had happened. She heard three gunshots ring out and yet, there wasn't anything to be seen. No Haunted, no bodies, no whatever else this place could conjure up for them. She should've pressed, she should've said something, but it felt like her mind only flooded itself with those memories again.

All she could see was bare skin and hands touching over her, still feeling the warmth, the sensations-

_Stop!_

_Just... stop._

_Now is not the time, Kid, pull yourself together._

She needed to focus on more important things- come on, just play Detective.

Sebastian and Joseph had yet to say anything still, let alone even move as they continued to stare straight ahead, staring at something just behind her.

A little unnerved by their silence, Kidman slowly turned back to what she could only presume was drawing their attention- and found herself face to face with it.

What had previously been a flat wall only a few feet behind her had now opened up to reveal itself to be a hidden death trap. The drywall had been pulled away to reveal an alcove hidden on the other side of it; an alcove that was filled with two very large cylinder-looking structures, both of which were armed with a thin blade that curved like a spiral down each one. The thin blades from both cylinders overlapped one another in the middle, barely giving much room between them.

It was an odd sight and Kidman had to admit that she was almost too baffled to really understand just what it was she was looking at.

Her eyes lingered on the dried mess of blood that was splattered over the back wall of the alcove, just barely visible between the equally stained cylinders themselves. Just like those pit fall traps in the catacombs...

She caught the brief glimmer of something on the floor catching light and took note of the broken shards of plastic that laid scattered in front of the hidden room.

Just as well, there appeared to be a cord of some kind that had been pulled between the cylinders, implying that it was attached to the back wall of the alcove. The cord was stretched out down the corridor, where it ended in a ragged snap just in front of Sebastian.

Still caught up in the overall chaos of things, it took Kidman longer than she would admit to put the pieces together.

"Oh God..." the words spilled out of her as the cold realization dawned on her. Kidman slowly forced herself to re-holster her gun, no longer feeling secure with it in her shaking hands. She could feel that twisting pressure in her stomach again, feeling it knot itself over and over again.

It had been a death trap.

A _very_ well-conceived and concealed one.

"Jesus Christ, that would fuck you up." Kidman was already regretting the words as soon as they came out of her, but there was nothing she could do at that point. She just... she didn't know what else to say- what the hell was she supposed to say?

One of them had triggered the trap and... nearly paid for it.

"Thanks Kidman," Sebastian retorted sharply in response, "as if I couldn't figure that out."

Alright, well that answered her question of who had set it off then.

Christ, she couldn't even imagine what had to be going through Sebastian's head after almost being dragged into the awaiting mauls of the death trap- let alone what he was thinking while it was happening.

"Who the hell sets up something like this?" Joseph whispered as he removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. It was all too easy to see that the man was both relieved yet stressed over the situation. There was no doubt that it would've been traumatizing to have witnessed the whole thing, from start to finish, and have to go through the range of emotions that the stress would have produced.

To realize that Sebastian could have easily been dragged through those blades and ripped apart.

It wasn't a pretty thought.

And at this point, Kidman wasn't certain if either her or Joseph could continue on without the Lead Detective.

"You know who," Sebastian replied.

_Ruvik_.

As if this place wasn't fucked up enough on its own, now there was the threat of even more death traps waiting for them.

Just what else could this place be hiding?

Kidman gave out an exhausted sigh and leaned in against the nearby wall. She wasn't even there to witness the would-be death trap, she didn't actually see anything from it, and yet it felt like she had; she could practically feel the tension, the panic, the fear radiating in the room still. And maybe it was her own thoughts, her own guilt of being absent while something like this happened that made her feel sick to her stomach again.

Not that she would've been much good in a situation like this.

It shouldn't even matter.

Sebastian and Joseph were still alive and relatively unharmed by the event so it wasn't like anything had happened in the first place.

But the possibilities, the different outcomes that they could be living with right now was what was crawling under her skin.

"It's okay, everyone's alright," Joseph started as he pushed himself back to his feet, slipping his glasses back on as he did so. He offered a hand and helped Sebastian back to his feet as well. The man never took his eyes off of the once living death trap, no doubt half-expecting it to jump back to life at any given moment. And Kidman sure as hell couldn't blame him for being overly cautious about it now. "It was a close call. We'll just need to be more careful around here from now on."

If that wasn't an understatement in itself.

It was one thing for one of them to get hurt or possibly killed by a Haunted or one of the larger STEM creations around here, but a trap? That felt like an entirely different kind of death category- one that Kidman never wanted to witness.

It had been bad enough back in those catacombs with those falling spike traps or the hidden tripwires half covered in darkness and grime. Kidman still felt sick at the memory of dropping one of the ceiling traps onto a group of those two-headed creatures- only to watch as their broken, bloodied corpses remained impaled on the spikes as the trap reset itself. Freshly bloodied and ripped corpses spilled out onto the already stained flooring, filling the already small, claustrophobic rooms with the rotted scent of carnage and entrails.

Kidman had nearly gotten herself caught in one of those traps just the same; she barely escaped it with only a minor cut to the leg.

They all ran the same risk with those traps- old, outdated, and barely functioning on half-rusted machinery. Sometimes the traps fell when they were intended to, and sometimes they didn't; and sometimes they sat on hair triggers, threatening to go off at the slight hint of a breeze on their controls.

Kidman remembered holding her breath every time she heard the metallic click of the trap disengaging behind her, every time she felt the floor shake under foot as the spiked panel slammed into the ground. It felt like she was always praying that neither of them were caught underneath it at that time. All it would take was just a second of a delay, a second of not paying attention, and the group of three could easily be knocked down to a group of two- or maybe even one.

They had made the amateur mistake of assuming that the traps would remain there, buried underneath the church.

(A lot of things should've stayed buried there.)

"Alright, well at least we know nothing's down here- otherwise we would've gotten swarmed by now," Joseph spoke, as he tediously tugged at his gloves. "We should be okay to finish checking down this wing if you're still up for it, Sebastian."

Kidman wasn't surprised that Joseph had already switched back to Detective-mode; it seemed to be the one thing that helped him combat the influences of STEM. It gave him something to focus on, something to work with- something to take his mind off of everything else around him. It helped to keep her and Sebastian focused just the same. And given the recent events, they sure as hell needed to stay focused just so they could get out of this fucking place.

"Yeah," Sebastian replied, running a hand down his face as he spoke. "Let's just... find what we need to find and get out of this place."

Exactly.

"I know it'll be difficult to convince, but you're welcome to go back and rest, Kidman," Joseph remarked.

She knew the man was just expressing concern for her well-being, but the offer still sent a cold shiver down her spine. "No, I... I've rested long enough," Kidman assured as she pushed herself from the wall and straightened up. She didn't think she could go back into that bedroom no matter how exhausted she was, or rather still felt. It was difficult enough to figure out where things had started and where they had ended.

"You were barely down for a minute," Joseph continued.

His answer struck a chord with her.

That... that wasn't possible.

"No, I- it had to have been like ten minutes," Kidman argued, certain that Joseph had to have been the one who was wrong here.

Joseph had offered to keep watch while she rested, which was when she fell asleep and had that nightmare about the church and the Administrator. She woke up and scared the shit out of Joseph and Sebastian, which was followed by her falling asleep again and waking up to- okay, that part didn't need to be remembered. Whatever that was, whatever had happened or what she thought had happened, was nothing short of a weird, fucked up dream that had no doubt been influenced by her environment.

Her waking up the way she did just now was enough to prove that much.

So reality ended after she had fallen asleep for the second time, which happened while Joseph and Sebastian were out doing a second patrol- which was how the two of them ended up here, almost caught in a death trap.

Which meant that there was no way in hell she could've been down for just a minute.

But the confused look that Joseph shot back to her in response seemed to challenge her reasoning.

"I assure you, Kidman, I just came out here to tell Sebastian that you were resting," Joseph replied. "And even though we set off this trap, it was forty seconds at best between now and when I left."

It felt like that dissipating knot in her stomach suddenly turned into a rock as Kidman listened to him.

There was no way.

There was no way so much shit happened all within forty seconds.

That couldn't be right, that _wasn't_ right.

Something... something was wrong here.

Maybe- maybe there was a glitch in STEM or something, kind of like how they were being transported all over the brainscape in here. Maybe something went wrong, maybe they were temporarily experiencing two different worlds with two different timelines that just now managed to re-converge into one.

Could STEM even get that complicated?

"... Are you feeling alright?"

Kidman wasn't sure if she even had an honest answer for that- hell, she didn't even have a starting point for it.

"She's had a rough time, alright?" Sebastian cut in, no doubt seeing that this conversation wasn't going in the direction anyone wanted it to go in. And right now, they had more important things to worry about than whatever it was she had experienced. "This place is shitty enough on it's own; it's hard to keep things straight around here."

Kidman watched as Sebastian turned towards her now- and for a man who had faced death a mere minute ago, he seemed to have recovered from it quick enough. Then again it wasn't like this was the first time his life had been on the line.

"You can get some more rest if you want, but if not than feel free to join us."

"I'll go with you," Kidman spoke quickly, almost cutting the man off in her rush to do so. And while part of her wasn't exactly keen on being around the two of them after what she had.. experienced, she didn't want to be alone either. The memories of that nightmare still clung to the cold sweat on her skin, reminding her that they were far from being alone in here.

She would be worse off by herself.

It was still a double-edge sword to play with though.

Whether she stayed with them or went back into that bedroom, she would still have to deal with the memories of whatever hallucination it was that she had gone through.

Kidman moved to rest one hand on her holstered gun, using the comforting weight of it to reassure herself that she could still do this. "After all, I'm gone for forty seconds and you nearly get dragged into this thing? Sounds like you need me around."

She could've laughed at the way Sebastian rolled his eyes and turned away from her; and she had no doubts that the man was also ignoring how Joseph was trying to stifle his own laughter at the jab. Maybe it was an inappropriate time to crack a joke, especially one about a fairly sensitive and very recent event but... she needed it. She needed something to break her from her thoughts right now- and she needed to feel like part of the team again.

"Just try and keep up," Sebastian remarked over his shoulder as he continued on down the corridor.

(She deserved the cold shoulder on that one.)

Kidman moved to catch up and follow after the two men, taking her own turn to glance back at the disarmed trap behind them- wondering still if it could come back to life somehow. The thought only left her even more unnerved, which she used as a force to keep herself focused on the task at hand; they needed to keep their eyes open for anything else that might seem out of place around here. And she especially needed to stay sharp and stay focused- a bad combination given her mental state right now.

Just two more of those brain things to go before they could get out of here- and even then, there was no guarantee that the locked door would be the way out. It could end up only dragging them further in and deeper down, which was not a place any of them wanted to go.

Down deeper beneath the church had been like stepping through the gates of Hell.

And Kidman didn't want to know what laid beneath the Victoriano mansion.

If they were lucky, they would find the remaining brain puzzles soon enough- hopefully before another one of those traps or another hallucination, or whatever it was, was triggered.

Kidman had forced the images down as best she could for the time being.

And she could only hope that they stayed that way.


	6. Tension

Joseph pulled the bedroom door closed behind him and repeatedly assured himself that he would only be gone for a minute at most.

He had already checked both of the abandoned bedrooms over and since there wasn't much to search to begin with, there wasn't much to be found. Hell, there wasn't a trace that one of those creatures had even so much as walked into either bedroom. So the rooms were cleared, as well as every adjacent room around them- the library included. It was also worth noting that their lingering presence in this wing of the mansion had yet to draw any more creatures their way.

By all points of reasoning, this area had been thoroughly cleared and secured for the time being.

So, by proxy, Kidman would be safe resting where she was.

Well, as safe as one could get in a place like this anyways- which wasn't very assuring in the long run.

Still, Joseph felt a sense of uneasiness at the situation.

Kidman desperately needed the rest, that couldn't be argued with in any form, and Joseph was glad that she was finally taking the downtime to do so. It just meant that he couldn't risk messing up and having her get hurt if something _did_ show up here. He had no doubts that Kidman could easily protect herself, but with her physical injuries she shouldn't have to.

God knew that Kidman didn't need his protection but it felt like it was the least that he could do in a situation like this.

Sighing, Joseph glanced down towards the library once more, having to reassure himself again that the open room and its conjoining corridor were still empty.

There were no sounds, no visible catch of movement.

Things were still okay, things were still secured.

(He would only be gone a minute.)

Finally releasing the doorknob, Joseph turned left and headed down the corridor away from the library. Hopefully he would catch up with Sebastian before the man got too far ahead of him- although Joseph highly doubted that the older Detective would stray for too long. Or for too far for that matter. Sebastian just preferred to do wide perimeter searches to ensure that they had plenty of room to move around in; it also ensured that they had plenty of room to fight in if need be, which was usually the case.

The connecting corridor at the end cut to his right and lead straight back to a single doorway located at the far end of it. There was a fairly presentable archway that seemed to highlight the door, and given the long walking hallway before it, it almost seemed theatrical in a sense.

Considering the two smaller bedrooms behind him, Joseph could only assume that the room at the end of the hall was the master bedroom. If such was the case, than that would make this the domestic wing of the mansion. A bit of an odd placement for it seeing as it branched straight off from the library and was relatively hidden compared to the other wings.

Given the state of the world that they were currently stuck in however, blueprints and house layouts were the least of his concerns.

Stepping out into the open hallway, Joseph paused as he took note of the faint red spatters and streaks coming from the dead-end wall to his left. Based on experience, the aged stains looked like blood but... the placement of them made no sense. The spatters implied impact, it implied a sort of spread, but only the floor itself was dirty. The wall connecting to that particular spot was relatively clean and gave no indication that any sort of striking blow had even been close to it.

It only left him with more questions than answers.

And he really didn't have time to question everything he saw in this place; God knows he would never get answers for them anyways.

As much as this mansion gave him an unsettling feeling, he needed to stay focus so they could get out of here.

At the very least, he could see where the other man had made it halfway down the corridor.

"Sebastian," Joseph called, although he tried to keep his voice low just in case of detection. At this point, they had no rational clue on what this mansion could be hiding from them- and after seeing the secrets of the church and its catacombs, Joseph wasn't sure he actually wanted to know. He watched as Sebastian glanced back at the call before the man stopped and waited for him to catch up. "Kidman decided to take some time to rest."

"About time," Sebastian replied; the man sounded genuinely relieved. "I was wondering how she managed to make it this far without passing out."

"She's been through a lot, I'm kind of surprised myself," he nodded.

"Hell, I'm still impressed she made it through that cave on her own two feet."

Kidman had been at her worst when they were trying to escape the catacombs through this weird underground cave system. She had survived the actual catacombs well enough on her own and both he and Sebastian had mistakenly dismissed it as Kidman getting her strength back. Looking back on it now, Joseph figured the adrenaline had finally worn completely off, thus leaving her body struggling with the physical overexertion that remained.

With the tight spacing of the makeshift cave passages made difficult by those creatures chasing them, it wasn't easy for Kidman to keep moving.

She had had one too many close calls but... she pulled through.

_Thankfully_.

Despite the obvious pain she was in, Kidman repeatedly insisted on carrying herself out of that hellhole.

She was determined not to be a burden to the team.

(Which was odd because, of the three of them, she certainly wasn't the burden.)

"I'll finish clearing this hallway and circle back," Sebastian spoke as he turned and continued down the corridor, further away from where Kidman was resting.

Joseph glanced back for a second, hesitating, before he moved to follow Sebastian.

They hadn't cleared this hallway yet and it would be in their best interest to do so- just in case there were more of those creatures down here. Joseph was still nervous about leaving Kidman by herself, but at the same time he didn't want Sebastian to get caught in an ambush situation by himself either.

And between the two of them, Joseph supposed an ambush in this direction would be more likely to happen.

They wouldn't be too far away from Kidman though, so if need be they could still get back to her room in a timely enough fashion should something decide to pop in on her.

Joseph stayed close to Sebastian as they approached the open archway at the end of the corridor, only to realize that it wasn't the dead-end he had presumed it to be. He could already see yet another hallway stemming off to the right of the doorway.

Jesus, just how big was this mansion?

"You should take some time and rest yourself," Sebastian remarked, "you walked away from that church just as bad as Kidman did."

Joseph knew that Sebastian wasn't wrong but... Christ, he didn't want to think about the church anymore than he already had.

That place had been an utter nightmare for him before they even walked through those doors, and Joseph was just now giving himself the leniency to look past it. He didn't want to remember all of those things he had said and done when control had been yanked from his grasp. When it had felt like someone else was inside of his head and they were having a hell of a time destroying every aspect of him, mentally and physically.

He hadn't exactly been in fighting condition when the three of them woke up in those catacombs. _Hell_ , he had barely been in living condition, but he pushed through it. It wasn't easy and there were times when it seemed better for everyone involved if he just took the bullet instead.

For some reason, he didn't.

For some reason, he still hadn't.

Between him and Kidman, it was a miracle either of them had managed to survive that hellhole.

It was a miracle either of them had made it this far.

If it weren't for Sebastian, neither of them would have escaped those catacombs alive.

"I know, I just-"

Joseph barely had a chance to finish his sentence before he heard a punctured gasp and caught sight of Sebastian collapsing next to him.

Well it was more like something had yanked the man to the ground instead.

Joseph turned immediately, fingers drawing his gun free as he was fully-expecting to find out that one of those creatures had managed to sneak up on them. Which had to be impossible to do- they had cleared out every room up to this point.

Instead, he turned to find that there was nothing behind them.

Nothing more than an empty hallway.

At least until he heard the sudden roar of machinery fill the tight corridor around him, causing him to physically flinch in reaction to it. The noise was damn near deafening in the closed space and it didn't take long for the loud noise to spur ringing in his ears and sharp pain in his head. The sudden flood of adrenaline only made him feel worse as Joseph tried to figure out just what the hell was going on.

And that was when he saw it.

The wall at the dead end of the corridor, the one he had _just_ walked by, had opened up some how, revealing a hidden compartment on the other side of it.

Revealing two massive spinning pieces of machinery.

They were moving too fast for him to really tell what they were or what the hell they were doing- or even what kind of purpose they would serve in this place.

But then Joseph remembered the blood spatters on the floor, the oddly clean wall despite the mess.

And it took him far too long to realize just what the hell was going on.

"Sebastian!" Joseph called, watching now as the Lead Detective was being dragged down the hallway towards the impending trap. He couldn't see exactly how the man had gotten caught, not at first anyways- but he did catch a glimpse of a cord of some kind wrapped around Sebastian's leg a few seconds later.

The cord went straight between the spinning cylinders.

Which only meant one thing.

Even with his gun raised still, Joseph had no idea of what he was even supposed to shoot!

There was no way in Hell he would be able to shoot the cord without running the risk of hitting Sebastian instead- and there was no guarantee he could even hit the cord to begin with. The margin of error on that kind of shot would literally be the line between life or death. This could either end with Sebastian getting pulled through the trap or it could end with the Lead Detective getting his femoral artery blown out.

And shooting the mechanism itself would do little else but ricochet the bullet elsewhere.

As if the spinning death trap itself wasn't enough of a threat on its own.

In the ensuing panic to look for something- _anything_ \- Joseph's eyes were drawn to the red light just between the two cylinders. It was out of place and fairly bright given the bleak lighting of the dim corridor. And it was just sitting there, right above the death trap, hidden just the same as everything behind it.

... It had to serve a purpose, right?

Jesus, he was putting too much faith into this one but he had no other choice.

If he was going to do it, he had to do it now!

There was no time for him to try and gain any extra steps to increase his chances of hitting the damn light- not with the speed that Sebastian was getting pulled at. And Joseph could only hope that, for this moment at least, his eyesight wouldn't fail him.

His nerves got the better of him with the first shot.

But the second bullet clipped the red light just enough.

Just enough for his third shot to hit.

The small red light shattered immediately.

And a few seconds later, the trap ceased- with only a few feet to spare.

Lowering his gun, Joseph caught himself damn near hyperventilating as the spinning cylinders slowly came to a stop, as the insistent grinding came to a stop. He could feel his heart in his throat and his hands shaking hard enough that his gun nearly dropped from his grasp; the still working portion of his mind prompted him to re-holster it before another accident happened.

The adrenaline was hot in his bloodstream but...

Christ, it felt like he could barely move a muscle.

Joseph watched as Sebastian cut the cord from around his leg the moment the machine stopped before the Lead Detective tossed the now severed cord as far away from him as he could. And Joseph sure as hell couldn't blame him for it.

One of the floor tiles must've had some kind of plate or something that triggered upon contact, upon pressure.

And once that plate was triggered, so was the trap.

(Now was _not_ the time to be theorizing this.)

Sebastian was alive.

That was all that mattered.

It felt like he had to force his legs to move as Joseph ran over to the Lead Detective, quick to make sure that the other man was alright. He was still convinced that the mechanism could spring back back to life if it wanted to though. After all, it wasn't like he had killed its power source or anything- all he did was shoot out a light; the machine turning back on was still a strong possibility.

Joseph couldn't find his voice to say anything as he dropped down next to Sebastian, one hand automatically going to the man's shoulder.

His eyes never left the exposed trap, which had completely winded down to a stop now- giving them both a proper chance to look it over.

The trap consisted of two floor-to-ceiling cylinders that were armed with what looked to be a thin blade that spiraled around the cylinder in a corkscrew manner. The blades on both cylinders were offset so that they interlocked between one another, perfectly overlapping and leaving no space in-between them. The lower half of the cylinders and blades, as well as the wall and floor, were stained with previous slathers of blood- and there was no telling just how old or fresh it was.

(It explained the once odd stains on the floor though.)

Joseph could only imagine the kind of damage a trap like that could do to a person.

There had to be a plate hidden under the floor tiles somewhere that, upon given pressure, would trigger a cord to snare the unknown victim's leg. And upon triggering the tile and cord, the wall space behind would pull away to reveal the spinning death trap, which would then draw the cord, and the victim, into the awaiting maul.

The blades at the bottom would crush the legs first, if not completely mangle and rip them off. Given that point, the cord would no longer drag the victim in, but the spinning motions of the blades would, thus continuing the assault. The blades would climb to the victim's hips, shredding the lower body into unidentifiable pieces before eventually puncturing through the torso.

At that point, the blades would more than likely disembowel the victim before ripping the shoulders and head apart just the same as the rest of the body.

Hell, there wouldn't be much of a body left afterwards.

Death would've been quick maybe.

But certainly not quick enough.

(Just the thought of it made him sick.)

That easily could've been Sebastian had he been any slower.

Jesus, what the hell was he thinking?! After barely surviving all of those traps in the catacombs, had he really learned nothing from them? Timing was everything- hell it was the only reason that they were all still alive at this point.

And he almost just fucked that up.

He had even seen the signs and still somehow missed the point.

"For fucks sake," Sebastian started, easily sounding out of breath himself. For once, the man truly seemed out of his element. Despite the utter hellhole they were in, despite everything they had survived up until now, Sebastian always seemed like he was still in control, like he still knew what he was doing. But now... now he looked scared. And Joseph sure as hell couldn't blame him. "... Fuck me."

"... Oh _God_."

Joseph looked up at the startled words, watching now as Kidman stood in the opening of the hallway, staring down at the same trap that he and Sebastian were looking at. The woman seemed to fumble slightly as she holstered her gun, maybe doing so for the same reasons he had earlier. Joseph had no idea how long the woman had been standing there, or just how much she had witnessed- hopefully not the whole event.

Given that however, Joseph could only imagine how the scene before her looked.

"Jesus Christ, that would fuck you up."

She seemed to have reached the same conclusion that he had.

Not that that would've been too difficult to do.

"Thanks Kidman," Sebastian retorted sharply, "as if I couldn't figure that out."

Giving out a quiet sigh, Joseph reached up and removed his glasses before he rubbed at his eyes. It felt like they were throbbing inside of his sockets, making it difficult for him to open them again without suffering the quiet ache all over again. Considering the distance that had been between him and the machine, Joseph was surprised that he had managed to hit close to the light at all. Perhaps through sheer panic and adrenaline, he had pulled off the luckiest shot of his career- but now it felt like his eyes were paying the price for it. "Who the hell sets up something like this?"

"You know who."

_Yeah_ \- yeah he did.

And the reminder of that only left him questioning just what else Ruvik was hiding in this god-abandoned mansion.

"It's okay, everyone's alright," Joseph started as he pushed himself to his feet, slipping his glasses back on as he did so; he could deal with the throbbing pain for just a little longer. Maybe he was speaking out loud more for himself than anyone else, but the words were still comforting to hear; they were almost believable in some regards. Offering a hand to Sebastian, Joseph was a little surprised that the man actually took it before he helped the Lead Detective to his feet.

He wanted to say something to Sebastian but no words came to him; it felt like there was nothing he could say that would portray the amount of relief he was feeling. Or anything that would portray the subtle guilt at taking so long to help. Or the subtle guilt that Sebastian had gotten caught in the trap in the first place when he should've mentioned something about the blood stains.

Christ, if he had decided to stay with Kidman even just a few seconds longer...

"It was a close call. We'll just need to be more careful around here from now on," Joseph finished, deciding to bottle the emotions and guilt for the time being.

As if it didn't feel like they weren't already walking on eggshells around here.

They just... they needed to be more perceptive.

(He needed to be more perceptive.)

Sebastian seemed... fine again for the time being- not that the man would ever admit otherwise.

"Alright, well at least we know nothing's down here- otherwise we would've gotten swarmed by now," Joseph spoke, pulling at the cuff of his gloves now, feeling the cold sweat of his palms starting to stick to the now warm leather; it was starting to get uncomfortable. He was hoping the subtle announcement would come across as good news- and it technically was; it would seem as though they had, for the most part, cleared this wing of the mansion. "We should be okay to finish checking down this wing if you're still up for it, Sebastian."

Maybe it seemed insensitive but... Joseph didn't want to stay still for much longer.

He didn't want to stand around and contemplate death any longer than they already had.

He wanted to keep moving, he wanted to keep searching, keep investigating.

He just wanted them to get out of this place already.

"Yeah," Sebastian replied, no doubt feeling the same as the man ran a hand down his face as he spoke. He looked exhausted for the first time since they had been here. "Let's just... find what we need to find and get out of this place."

Good.

They were on the same page then.

Joseph turned his attention back to Kidman, taking note of how she was leaning against the wall now.

She looked even more exhausted than she had just moments before- and it was her physical health that was really causing him to worry. There was no telling just what exactly she had survived back at the church just before he and Sebastian had gotten there. Whatever it was had been a serious attack. And Joseph was hesitant to admit that it didn't seem like her injuries had come from any of those Haunted creatures; she didn't bear the same bite marks, or scratches that they usually struck with- let alone any weapon injuries.

Perhaps in their time of being forced apart, Kidman had encountered something else, something neither he nor Sebastian had seen before.

Which was plausible given that Sebastian mentioned something about a four-armed creature, dark-haired creature stalking him earlier- something neither Joseph nor Kidman had seen.

After all there was no telling just how big this place was, or what kinds of horrors it could create.

Still, he was worried about her and he didn't bother to try and hide it.

"I know it'll be difficult to convince, but you're welcome to go back and rest, Kidman," Joseph offered.

And it was hard to ignore what looked to be a shudder on the woman's shoulders.

"No, I... I've rested long enough," Kidman assured as she pushed herself from the wall and straightened herself up; and Joseph wondered if she did so to try and portray herself as feeling better.

It didn't work.

"You were barely down for a minute," Joseph reminded.

It was hard to comprehend that so much had happened in such a short amount of time.

He had just been with her, he had just been closing the door behind her, hesitant about leaving her. He had just stepped around the corner to speak with Sebastian, discussing Kidman's health as they moved to at least finish off this conjoining corridor. And maybe Joseph had dodged the proverbial bullet about his own health when the trap went off. In the moment it felt like time had slowed down, like the entire event had dragged on for an hour.

And then reality settled back in and there had been only seconds wasted.

He could still feel the cold press of the doorknob through his glove.

"No, I- it had to have been like ten minutes," Kidman objected, and Joseph swore he could hear her voice almost shaking with the words.

Her sudden arguing of the point was strange and out of nowhere.

What purpose exactly would there be to argue his point of timing?

Joseph passed a glance to Sebastian and noted that even the Lead Detective himself seemed confused by the remark.

Kidman was in a lot of pain; she was exhausted and suffering from extreme overexertion.

This was the first chance she had gotten to finally rest and recover from it all, and it had been pulled short.

And given how time did and didn't move in this world, Joseph couldn't blame her for getting confused.

"I assure you, Kidman, I just came out here to tell Sebastian that you were resting," Joseph replied. "And even though we set off this trap, it was forty seconds at best between now and when I left."

This time it seemed like the color drained from her face.

Joseph couldn't deny the sense of confusion that came to him; he couldn't deny the small knot of dread that was building in his stomach either. He knew Kidman well enough and while being stuck in this world was showing him new sides to both partners, he still felt like he had a firm grasp on who they were. But right now it felt like his grasp on Kidman was slipping, even if just by a little.

But a little slip could mean a world of difference here.

(The church had proven that.)

"... Are you feeling alright?" Joseph asked as he took a step towards the woman.

A hand brushing against the back of his arm convinced him to stop though.

"She's had a rough time, alright?" Sebastian reminded. "This place is shitty enough on it's own; it's hard to keep things straight around here."

As if that wasn't an understatement.

But Joseph got the impression that Sebastian was making and decided to step back.

Kidman needed her space; she didn't need him coddling her.

"You can get some more rest if you want, but if not than feel free to join us," the Lead Detective offered.

"I'll go with you." Kidman's response was almost immediate, which again caught Joseph off-guard. It was like she had been wanting for someone to make the offer- and if they didn't, she would've stuck with them anyways.

Kidman seemed to catch on to her sudden outburst and tried to smooth it over as she moved a hand to rest on her holstered gun.

"After all, I'm gone for forty seconds and you nearly get dragged into this thing? Sounds like you need me around."

Joseph snorted back a laugh at the unforgiving remark and tried to further mask it- knowing well that he was within Sebastian's hitting range. It was out of nowhere and completely unprovoked for the most part but... it felt good to laugh at something again. Even if the timing wasn't exactly appropriate given the recent turn of events. From the corner of his eye, he could see Sebastian roll his eyes before the man turned back down the hallway.

"Just try and keep up," the Lead Detective remarked over his shoulder.

Joseph turned to follow the man and he heard Kidman move quick to follow after them.

Reaching the end of the hallway once more, Joseph watched as Sebastian approached the archway before the man cautiously stepped through it- as though anticipating another trap of some sorts. Luckily, it seemed like the coast was clear for the time being. Joseph followed close behind the Lead Detective, stepping through the archway threshold and keeping his gun trained on the open corridor to their right.

It was empty for the time being, with the exception of a pair of legs sticking out from just around the corner. The legs weren't moving and given all the noise recently, if the creature had been alive, it would've shown itself by now; playing dead would've required too much effort for the Haunted. Joseph figured it was yet another victim who had been turned into a meal by those creatures- just like the one outside of the library.

Glancing back, Joseph watched as Sebastian eased the archway door open and followed through with his gun drawn- staying in the doorway for the time being. The man did a quick scope from the opened position and considering that his gun didn't immediately go off, the room must've been vacant.

"It's empty," Sebastian remarked, before he motioned for Joseph to continue down the side corridor. "I'm going to do a quick look around. You and Kidman go see what's down that hallway."

As Joseph figured before, it must've been the master bedroom; a single room, no other doors, one way in, one way out.

"Watch yourself," Joseph reminded, as he slowly made his way down the short corridor. Approaching the legs on the ground, he took a wide step around the corner and kept his gun locked on the fallen body below.

Or at least what was left of it.

Most of the body was missing.

The face and head had been pulled and eaten away, as well as part of one arm and most of the stomach cavity.

Not the best smell in the world, but it didn't smell as bad as the one in the library had.

The corridor continued further down in front of him and ended at yet another closed doorway. _Perfect_. Just how many rooms were in this place exactly? And again, just how big was this mansion to start with? It felt like they had already gone through every room and investigated every corner and yet there was still more to explore. And that wasn't counting the massive iron doors they were currently working to unlock.

This place could have an even more massive basement for all they knew.

"We got another room," Joseph called back.

"Jesus," Sebastian muttered, no doubt sharing his exact thoughts on the situation. "Alright, go for it."

He was not looking forward to whatever secrets might be lying in wait behind that door.

Starting down the corridor, Joseph took note that it was deathly quiet- which wasn't surprising and yet it managed to be unnerving still in a place like this. Silence was both a good and bad thing here; it meant there wasn't anything actively hunting them, but it didn't necessarily rule it out either. The silence also made him all too aware that any one of those creatures could be anywhere, just waiting for them, and they would have no idea that it was there- not until it was too late anyways.

They could be walking into an ambush right now and they would be none the wiser about it.

He tried not to focus on that terrifying thought.

Joseph instead focused on the muffled footsteps that followed behind him, reminding himself that at least he wasn't alone; and it was a comforting reminder. Despite his reluctance to leave Sebastian on his own, Joseph figured the man had purposely ordered for him and Kidman to go this way. After the ordeal with the death trap, Joseph had no doubts that Sebastian probably wanted a moment or two alone to recollect himself.

Approaching the door, Joseph reached out and placed a hand on the doorknob. "You got my back?" he questioned, glancing to Kidman behind him.

"I'm your back-up, aren't I?"

He chuckled lightly at the response and tried not to question whether the woman meant it as a joke, or as a subtle reminder that she had been treated as just 'back up' quite a bit lately. And Joseph had to admit that both he and Sebastian were guilty of making her stay behind while they went ahead and checked out things. He just didn't want to risk her getting even more injured- but that really wasn't his decision to make either.

Turning the door knob, Joseph pushed the door open with one hand and allowed for it to swing open on its own. He stayed in the doorway, both hands on his gun as he waited to catch any movement, any clue that would give away that something else was in the room. The door gave a subtle creak as it opened to full view, revealing nothing of any Haunted variety in front of them.

It only revealed what looked to be a storage room of some sort.

There was a dressing wall of some kind to his right, which unfortunately blocked out most of the room from sight; it created a spot of vulnerability should something be in the room with them.

And straight ahead of him were what looked to be mounted deer heads.

The faint light of the dim overhead bulb casted a shine on their dead, black eyes, giving off the impression that the decapitated heads were staring back at him, that they were following him as he slowly stepped into the room. The thought and illusion alone sent cold chills down his back, forcing Joseph to reposition his grip on his gun.

He never saw the purpose of hunting outside of necessity.

And the obsession of collecting decapitated heads as trophies came off as psychopathic.

Joseph could list three serial killers off the top of his head who had done the same to their human victims.

Asides from some unpacked boxes shoved against the walls and shoved into corners, there didn't appear to be much else that Joseph could immediately see. Based on the evidence around him, he could only presume that this room was used for storage and little else.

"What a dump," Kidman remarked behind him.

Joseph glanced back at the comment and watched as the woman reached up and grazed one of the mounted heads with her hand. In any living situation, it would've seemed like a subtle pet on the nose- but in this one it just seemed arbitrary. And maybe a little creepy.

He didn't like the idea of touching something that had been preserved after death.

"I guess every house has a room like this though," she finished.

"I take it you're a bit disorganized yourself?" Joseph asked as he made it to the packed corner of the room, allowing himself to get a glimpse of the rest behind the dressing wall. As far as he could tell, there didn't seem to be much else in the room- nothing of use or of interest anyways. There just appeared to be more furniture and other typical things that were pushed into storage in order to free up room in the rest of the house. Although it was frightening to think that with how big this mansion was to begin with, the previous tenants still managed to run out of space.

More dressing walls blocked the back portion of the room but Joseph was beginning to doubt that there was much left in here.

"I'm pretty minimalistic," Kidman admitted, as she traced his steps through the room, "but even then things still manage to get cluttered."

Joseph recalled a previous conversation between them where Kidman had asked him where she could buy a new coffee machine since the one at her apartment had unfortunately stopped working. When Joseph asked why she didn't just go back to the place where she had bought the first one, Kidman admitted that the tenant before her had left unexpectedly and left all of their furniture behind. She cut a good deal with the leasing office and basically inherited all of the former tenant's furniture- coffee machine included.

While the thought of taking and using a stranger's entire room set up was disturbing, Kidman remarked that it was more than what she had signing the lease with, so anything was better than nothing.

So more than likely she had also inherited the former tenant's clutter.

Joseph watched as Kidman moved past the dressing well ahead of him and stepped into the only clear path that ran down the middle of the uncharted room. Given that Kidman didn't give or show an immediate reaction to anything around her, Joseph could only presume that his theory of this room being a bust was true. Not to say that there was anything bad in having a boring, empty room- if anything, it was a relief to have.

"I bet you're real strict about how you have things set up," Kidman continued.

This might've not been the most appropriate place to be having this conversation of home organization and decor, but it felt normal.

It was better than talking about severed heads and recorded puzzles.

Hell, it was better than any other topic they had had so far in this mansion.

"Everything has a place and it doesn't move from there," Joseph replied, as he followed up behind Kidman and kept an eye on the dressing wardrobe to their right. Gut suspicion said that the wardrobe was big enough for something to be hiding in it, but so far he wasn't seeing any evidence to support the claim. Kidman moved past it without incident so he wrote it up as paranoia.

"I've seen your office."

Joseph chuckled at the response, maybe the subtle dig, as he continued to work his way towards the back of the room with her.

Kidman's behavior earlier had been odd and sort of stand offish, but it seemed as though she was slowly getting back into control of herself. That wasn't to say that the behavior would last, but it was a good sign nonetheless; it meant that despite all of the odds stacked against her, she could still recover quick enough on her own.

"And I've seen your desk," Joseph followed up.

Kidman gave a snorted sort of laugh in return.

So far so good with their search of the room.

There didn't appear to be anything in particular in here, which was really just one less thing for them to worry about.

And in the grand scheme of things, it was a relief.

Unfortunately, as best as he could see in the dimly lit room, Joseph couldn't see or find any sort of metal piping that might've been running through the room. So as good as things were right now, it meant that their key to getting out of this place wasn't in here either. They were beginning to run out of options here as to where to look for the damn things.

Just how many different places could someone hide a severed head?

Maybe it was hidden inside one of the dear heads.

Coming up to the back of the room, Joseph noticed the door hidden in the far corner. As dimly light as it was, he could still pick out the shape of wooden boards that had been nailed over the door, keeping it permanently locked to the other side unless brute force was invoked. Asides from the overall tension in the mansion, the brain puzzles themselves, and that one death trap, the boarded up door felt wildly out of place.

It made him question just what exactly was on the other side of it.

Not that he was all that curious to find out; he was fine with letting some secrets remain secrets.

Unless of course there was a severed head on the other side, which given their luck there would be.

"Nothing but a load of shit," Kidman remarked.

"Can't say I'm disappointed," Joseph replied as he stepped into the back area of the room- only to watch as a red light suddenly flickered on in the darkness. He saw the light before he even heard the rhythmic beeping that followed it, but he was quick to feel the tight grip on his arm as Kidman suddenly tugged him back. He retracted only two steps before the beeping went silent and the light switched off.

Joseph didn't even realize how tense he had gotten within those few seconds.

He felt it through the subtle pain in his fingers and hands at the white-knuckle grip he had on his gun.

"What the fuck is one of those things doing in here?" Kidman pressed, the irritation in her voice all too easy to hear.

His mind didn't even piece the red light and rhythmic beeping to the motion-activated wall bombs that Kidman had been referring to, the same ones they had seen scattered through this world. They had been littered all over the church and catacombs- even in the asylum of all places. The explosives bore no correlation to any of those environments; hell they had even been the most advanced piece of technology in the catacombs.

And now they were here, in this god-forsaken mansion.

At this point it was beginning to feel like someone was purposely placing down each bomb out of design, out of entertainment.

But Joseph had momentarily forgotten all about those previous encounters.

No, he had chosen to connect the red light to the same one out in the hallway, to the one sitting broken above the spinning death trap that was remaining silent for the time being.

Part of him was expecting this room to suddenly open up in the same manner.

"Do we leave it?" Kidman asked, breaking him out of his focused panic.

"It... it wouldn't hurt to disarm it," Joseph started, as he holstered his gun once more and tried to work the ache out of his fingers. "It might be pointless to do but it would be one less thing to worry about. And who knows, we might come back through here again, or somehow come through from the other side of that door- in which case we'd easily be within blasting range before we'd even realize what was going on."

"Fair point," Kidman noted, before she gestured towards the well-hidden explosive, "get to it then."

Joseph had basically volunteered himself for the job, especially considering that he was the only one with experience dealing with explosives, but it was still humorous to hear Kidman pushing him to do the job anyways.

The wall bombs themselves weren't all that difficult to disarm if they were caught in time, and Joseph had certainly disarmed bigger, more dangerous explosives before. This one would be no different.

Joseph moved towards the bomb once again and managed to get to it just as the first beep escaped from it. A quick disarm of the exterior cog silenced the programmed countdown temporarily while he worked to disable the interior mechanics. It was a little harder to do it all by hand but it wasn't like he had a set of tools just lying around. It didn't matter anyways, he would get the job done regardless.

"So just how exactly do you know how to disarm these things?"

He was wondering when the inevitable question was going to come up.

"I just do," Joseph answered, knowing well that it did little to answer Kidman's question- and purposely leaving it as such.

"Just common knowledge to you then, huh?" Kidman replied with a touch of sarcasm.

"Yeah," he spoke, continuing to avoid giving a direct answer.

Kidman gave what sounded like an irritated sigh before she seemingly gave up on the topic. "Alright, suit yourself. I'll just mark it up as another one of your weird quirks."

As long as it got the topic dropped-

"Wait, what do you mean another one?" Joseph pressed.

"Yeah, it's kind of odd how the whole disarming bombs thing isn't the weirdest thing-" Kidman started, only to cut herself off before she could finish her thought.

Joseph waited to see if the woman would continue, although he couldn't say that he actually wanted her to, but after a few seconds of silence he came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to. "Kidman?"

"Do you hear that?" she questioned instead, almost whispering it at him.

He must've zoned out of his environment just enough so that he was only focused on disarming and focused on talking with Kidman, because he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary around them. Nothing that would've stuck out enough to draw his attention anyways. The silence didn't change the fact that that was not a question Joseph wanted to be asked right now, especially not while he was still trying to disarm this thing. These wall bombs were small but they were still a fairly dangerous explosive- especially given that most of them, this one included, were strapped down with exposed nails and all sorts of other shrapnel pieces.

(And maybe a touch of experience told him that that shit hurt when it went off in close proximity.)

"What are you hearing?" Joseph asked, keeping his voice equally low to match Kidman's.

"It sounds like something's behind that door-"

About that time, a loud force struck the door from the other side and Joseph caught sight of the door buckling in his peripheral vision. The sound, let alone the action was enough to cause him to flinch and almost break his concentration in lancing the color-coded wires in front of him.

A second, repeating strike came through just as quick and even louder as it caused the once boarded and locked door to splinter apart under the given force.

Allowing four Haunted to spill into the room with them.


	7. Breaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was just telling myself that I was glad I had this story set to a pretty firm schedule- and then the holidays came up and it got pushed back. And then I got sick and it got pushed back again. But I'm back now and feeling better and hopefully I can pick things back up soon enough.

There was a split second where, in watching as the events unfolded in front of him, Joseph questioned what exact odds were against them in this moment.

And then he remembered where they were.

He remembered what kind of fucked up reality they were in.

And he remembered that all the odds were stacked against them in here.

_"Joseph!"_

There was hardly any space between him and the door.

So there was hardly any time in between seeing the first Haunted charge him and feeling the damn thing ram itself against him. There was hardly any time to think about running, let alone actually doing so.

The momentum from the tackling blow was enough to knock him away from the half-disarmed bomb.

And as Joseph suspected, the moment his weight was released from the pressure component, the whole thing went off as a hair trigger.

Everything happened so fast.

All in a matter of seconds- maybe even less.

Joseph felt the rush of heat first before he ever heard the rupturing sound of the explosive blowing itself to all Hell- and taking everyone in the room with it. In such a tight space, the explosion was loud and given his closer proximity to it, it was even louder; it filled his ears with a disorientating white noise and filled his head with a high-pitch ring that overwhelmed his senses.

It didn't really take much for the force of the explosion to catapult every body, every piece of furniture, any loose objects into all directions.

He couldn't say with honesty just what exactly he hit during that time, whether it be discarded furniture, old boxes, or a mix of both.

But Joseph felt his momentum break against one of the walls of the room and felt the sharp resulting pain flood every receptor in his brain.

He must've blacked out for a few seconds because he felt himself eventually come to; he was barely functional and mostly disoriented when he did.

The first thing he tried to do was breathe, trying to recover from the debilitating hit to his lungs, but Joseph mostly inhaled the rancid scent of sulfur and burnt flesh, which only caused him to choke instead. When he tried to move, to try and get a better breath of air, he felt a heavy weight sitting on top of him, keeping him pinned down. Hands moved to the weighted source and pushed back on it, immediately realizing that it was the body of one of the Haunted; which was more than likely also the source of the suffocating smell.

More than a little desperate to get away from the burnt smell of already rotting skin, Joseph shoved the corpse aside and untangled himself from the mutilated body. At this point, it wasn't just the fresh air that he wanted, but he didn't want any of the creature's blood on him either. He had gotten splattered enough by Haunted blood and the smell alone couldn't be washed out of his senses.

The sharp pain in his left arm was pushed off to be taken care of later as he worked himself out from the resulting debris pile around him.

There wasn't too much thankfully, just the battered remains of a dressing wall, the coffee table from before, and a few destroyed boxes. And he just needed to move enough to relieve the pressure of something digging into his already pained back.

Joseph groaned softly as his first attempt to move only brought up that same sharp pain in his back and now the evident stiffness across his shoulder-blades. There was a continuous pounding in his head and a sharp pain in his left ear; a possible eardrum rupture given his run of luck around here. A second and third attempt to move ended up more successful as he distanced himself further away from the Haunted's carcass.

A brief look over of the body revealed that the Haunted had taken a majority of the blow from the explosion, or at least a majority of the shrapnel. Most of the creature's back had been blown off, exposing a mess of now broken ribs that seemingly floated in a soup of stringy muscles and burnt tendons.

There had been no way of stopping the Haunted from grabbing him.

And there had been no way of stopping the bomb from exploding either.

And yet somehow, he managed to take out two birds with one stone.

Not exactly the best plan but given the limited situation and his lack of full control in the moment, at least he was still alive.

Which oddly enough was something that his body was not happy about at the moment.

"Kidman, you alright?" Joseph called, just barely hearing his own voice through the white noise in his ears. He slowly moved one hand to his left ear and felt the slickness against his glove, bringing his attention to the warm sensation trickling down his cheek. He wasn't surprised to find blood when he pulled his fingers away; hell, he had already called it, but he guessed some part of him had been holding on to blind luck.

Which meant that even if Kidman responded to him, there was little chance that he would actually hear her.

Looking at the blood on his fingertips now, Joseph took note of something sticking out from his left palm. There was a moment of questioning before he slowly turned his hand to the side and watched as the object turned into the shape of a nail. It still took a few more seconds before the realization of it managed to break through the ringing in his head.

The Haunted hadn't taken all of the shrapnel after all.

Which meant there was a good chance this wasn't the only nail in his arm.

He had just barely managed to bring his left arm in when the Haunted tackled into him- just barely saving it from getting caught in the point-blank explosion. But given the nail in his palm and the now throbbing pain that was crippling his forearm, Joseph was beginning to realize that that wasn't the case. And with a sense of reluctance, he brought his left arm forward to place an injury to the pain.

The top of his forearm, from the back of his hand to the cuff of his sleeve, was corroded and burnt; the flayed skin just barely hanging on, still alive.

The explosion had been a quick burst of heat, but he had been close enough to have it essentially blow the top layer of skin off of his arm- leaving the layers underneath exposed and equally red and pink. It was both painful and numb in two combining sensations, with the pain stirring up every time the heat of the burn kicked in. There was very little blood, which was good and bad; he didn't have to worry about additional blood loss, but the risk of infection was all too present.

It wasn't exactly the greatest injury to have here, but as far as he could tell, his left arm hadn't been completely blown off in the explosion- which technically it should've been.

He couldn't curl his fingers into his palm without sharp pain from the nail, but for the most part he could still move them and his wrist.

So far, so good with still having a functional arm.

But when he carefully turned his arm to get a better angle on the burn, Joseph realized that things didn't exactly stop there. Along with the nail punctured through his palm, he had several more impaled down the length of his forearm.

Two more nails were sticking clean through as well, with the head on one side of his arm and the pointed end sticking out the other. They were both further down his forearm, which meant that they had luckily missed hitting and/or piercing the artery in his wrist.

There was another nail that had managed to pierce through just a portion of skin, sitting under a few layers rather than going clean through flesh and muscle. That one was bleeding fairly profusely, spilling thick red droplets down his forearm.

None of them were fatal, by sheer fucking luck.

He would be fine for the time being; he had more important things to focus on.

Joseph attempted to push himself up, knowing well getting to his feet in this condition would be near impossible, but also knowing that he needed to check on Kidman. Given that he didn't hear a response, which was expected, he needed to make sure that she was alright; that she hadn't been as close as he had been to the explosion.

A heavy hand on his shoulder caught him mid-action and pushed him back down though.

"Easy," an equally heavy voice spoke, one that Joseph easily identified as being Sebastian's. The heaviness to it was probably the only reason he was able to hear it, let alone identify it. "You're looking pretty roughed up- Jesus, I'm gone for forty seconds and you both nearly get yourselves blown up."

That phrase certainly did not take long to come back around on them.

(Although it had definitely been longer than just forty seconds this time.)

Sure as hell though, he didn't hear the man approach him at all.

"That's usually how it goes, right?" Joseph replied, hearing his own voice muffled under the continuous static of white noise in his ears. He kept his left arm tucked close to his chest and pushed his glasses up with his right hand; he carefully pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to qualm the raging pain in his head. Jesus, there were too many things going on, too many things for him to focus on- and he could barely hold a straight thought. "Is Kidman alright?"

"Yeah, just a little dazed but nothing bad," Sebastian answered. "She was more worried about you."

Part of him would agree with that, but that didn't mean that Kidman wasn't out of the explosive-range either.

She had to have gotten tossed around just as much- maybe even more considering she hadn't been close to a wall of any kind.

"We're alive at least," Joseph remarked, rubbing at his eyes now before he pulled his glasses back into place. At this point, he was just so tired of everything; he just wanted to put the matter behind them and be quick about picking up where they had left off before.

"Yeah, that's a word for it," Sebastian replied, not sounding the least bit convinced by his remark. The man looked over his own shoulder for a moment- more than likely looking back to check on Kidman, who was still out of sight for the time being. "What happened in here?"

He didn't hear anything that would act as a response to the question but given that Sebastian was still looking over his shoulder and occasionally nodding, Joseph could only assume that Kidman was answering. Which was good thing. He wasn't sure if he could recall the previous events clearly, or accurately at this moment- or at all for that fact. Given he couldn't hear anything the woman was saying, he went with his gut that she was telling things from her point of view- which was probably more than he'd be able to say anyways.

"Alright, that answers some things," Sebastian spoke as he turned back to him. "You got anything to say?"

"I got hit in the middle of the disarm," Joseph answered, groaning some as he moved just enough to take some weight off of his lower back; he felt Sebastian squeeze his shoulder in response. "Pre-release on the exposed combustion elements turned the whole thing into a hair trigger; the whole thing went off almost immediately."

"So how the hell did you not get blown apart by it?" Sebastian pressed.

Joseph gestured to the Haunted carcasses nearby. "They took most of the initial explosion as well as most of the shrapnel," he answered, before he touched at his left arm, feeling the pain slowly turning numb at this point. "Still took a good chunk of it myself though."

"Let me see."

He reluctantly allowed for the Lead Detective to see his partially burnt arm and watched as Sebastian carefully gripped him around the elbow and wrist. Joseph tried not to flinch as Sebastian straightened his arm out to get a better look at it. He had no doubts that the man immediately honed in on the burns, but there was evident surprise when Sebastian turned his arm and spotted the nails.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Joseph assured, although he doubted Sebastian believed him. "The burn is the worst part of it. The nails managed to miss any and all vital areas; the risk of infection is the only concern they bring."

Sebastian gave his arm a few more look-overs but seemed dissatisfied regardless. "You're lucky you didn't lose your arm," he remarked.

"You don't have to tell me."

It was his non-dominant arm at the very least and the injuries weren't as bad as they could've been.

He could be sitting here with an arm half blown off after all.

(He would take the risk of infection over that any day.)

"Think you can stand?" Sebastian questioned.

The ringing in his head had dulled some but the white noise in one ear was still prevalent- although he doubted it would screw too much with his balance. Just as well, he had regained movement and feeling back into his limbs for the most part. It was just a matter of if he wanted to move, in which the answer was no- but regardless, that answer was irrelevant.

"I should be fine," Joseph replied, as he started to pick himself up, using the pieces of debris and broken furniture around him as leverage. He felt Sebastian grab him by the right arm as the man helped pull him to his feet instead, allowing Joseph to use him for balance once he was upright again. It felt like his body hated him for the action as pain throbbed up and down his spine, but he couldn't just sit around for longer than needed.

Even if the thought of throwing up crossed his mind and stomach once or twice now.

Sebastian squeezed his shoulder once more, keeping a relatively firm grip on it now. "You sure you're alright?" the man repeated. It used to not be often for the Lead Detective to show concern, or to not be easily swayed by a simple answer. But as of late, it was getting harder to convince the man that things were okay. Then again, with everything the two of them had been through, Joseph wasn't surprised that Sebastian didn't take his bullshit anymore. "You didn't take a few nails to the head, did you?"

It could've been a joke or genuine concern; at this point it was sort of hard to tell.

And his head was throbbing too much for him to care for which it was

"I didn't check but it's a possibility," Joseph remarked, much to the other man's dismay. He happened to catch a glimpse of Kidman approaching them and decided to change the subject before Sebastian could counter his response. "Hey, you alright?"

If it was possible for Kidman to look even more stressed out, she certainly did now.

There seemed to be a few more tears in her shirt and there was even a faint singed burn that ran up the front of it.

Kidman had a few bright red patches on her chin, neck, and cheeks; which implied that she had been close enough to get heat from the explosion without taking severe damage from it. It was sure to be painful still however, especially on top of her previous injuries. Burns and bruises were sure not to mix will together.

"Just... wondering how much worse things are going to get from here," Kidman remarked as she ran a hand through her hair. "It feels like everywhere we go, we're running into something that's trying to kill us- and right now, it's getting a little repetitive."

"It's keeping us on our toes at least," Joseph spoke.

"I still don't like it," Kidman reaffirmed, before she gestured to the doorway behind them. "By the way, we dealt with all that bullshit just to get a door that goes back to the front hall."

Joseph didn't exactly see Kidman inspect the now open threshold- hell, he had sort of forgotten about it in the midst of everything. But she must've checked it out while he was talking to Sebastian and trying to get his bearings back. At least he knew that there was no sense in looking at it himself. And that there had been some truth in Kidman's phrasing of having to deal with all of this bullshit.

It was a bad sign that they had ran into yet another door that went nowhere.

Despite complaining about the size of this mansion, they were beginning to run out of options.

"So, essentially a shortcut," Kidman finished.

"So, basically useless," Sebastian replied.

"Yeah."

Joseph snorted slightly at their odd trade of words and watched as Sebastian stepped away as he started towards the door himself. More than likely, the Lead wanted to see for himself where exactly the door ended up at; after all, the front hall wasn't exactly that big to begin with.

Kidman watched as Sebastian left before she turned back to him- and it was hard to miss the look of concern that briefly touched her features. "... Glad to see you didn't get blown into little pieces."

Joseph quietly chuckled at the classic response. "Thankfully no, but I did get filled with little pieces," he replied, briefly showing off his shrapnel-damaged arm. By all accounts, especially given how things had happened, he got off real easy and pretty lucky. A few burns and a few punctures from some loose nails were not the worst that could have happened to him.

Especially given the now deceased Haunted's condition.

"Jesus," Kidman exhaled, before she moved her hands to take his arm with careful ease, "let me see."

Joseph watched as she turned the limb carefully, making sure that she didn't unintentionally pull or snag one of the exposed nails. She turned his arm side to side, getting a full examination of it. It showed off that most of the mess from the injury was just sulfur from the explosion and a little bit of blood where the nails had gone in.

Once he had the chance to clean it up, the injuries more than likely wouldn't look like much of anything.

It was just the mess of sulfur, dust, and panic that made it seem worse.

"Maybe we should've just shot it," she remarked.

"Maybe," he repeated, "- although technically we saved bullets this way."

Kidman made a sort of scoffing sound in her throat, as if the exchange of one bullet to avoid an explosion would hardly count as saving ammo. She carefully moved to take his injured hand in her grasp now, careful with how she held it. She didn't move it around like she had done to his arm, choosing instead to examine it from the position Joseph held it at; no doubt she had finally taken note of the nail impaled through the center of his palm. And even when she did turn it over to see the nail at its full extent, it was more because of him moving it rather than her.

"I'm sure there's a joke to be made here somewhere," Kidman spoke.

"I only ask that you don't make it," Joseph replied.

"The joke makes itself," Kidman assured, before she looked back as Sebastian stepped back through the once boarded-up doorway. "So where are we standing in terms of searching this mansion? We know nothing's down here, and nothing's out that door except places we've already searched. We're at yet another dead-end in here."

Frustration was easy to hear in Kidman's voice, and it was a frustration that they were all sharing at this point. Just how much more of this place could they search? And just how much danger would they be putting themselves into by doing so?

"Did you find anything in the master bedroom?" Joseph asked, hoping they still had a chance at something here.

"Yeah, there was another one of those head experiment things in there," Sebastian answered, as he stepped back into the room and regrouped with them. "I didn't get a chance to look it over or do anything with it yet."

"And you didn't want to mention that until now?" Kidman pressed.

"Sort of had more pressing matters to attend to, like you two deciding to blow yourselves up."

Joseph moved a hand to rub at the back of his neck, definitely feeling the tight pull of the muscles under his skin now- which was enough to convince him to overlook giving a response to Sebastian's less than subtle jab. There was no telling just how hard he had hit that wall, but it felt like the pain was definitely beginning to settle in now. "Well, we have to get it done so we might as well get it over with as quick as we can."

As reluctant as they all were to put yet another needle into a living brain, at this point it couldn't exactly be avoided.

If they wanted to get out of here, which they did, it had to be done.

It wasn't exactly the greatest hoop to jump through but they had little choice in the matter.

"At least we have some understanding of how the process goes now," Joseph finished.

"Loosely," Sebastian reminded, before the man set his attention back on him. "You sure you're alright?"

If the question wasn't broad enough on its own...

"Yeah, this isn't exactly the worst thing that's happened to me so far," Joseph remarked, choosing to ignore the look Sebastian gave him in response. "Let's just get out of here and... let me get these nails out of my arm before we handle that brain thing."

Unfortunately, he couldn't recall seeing a bathroom anywhere in this place, which was odd. And the only other place he could think to wash the blood off in was the half-destroyed kitchen downstairs- and he really didn't want to go back into that room.

Worst-case scenario, it was still raining outside.

Which would unfortunately probably make it the cleanest water in this place.

"I think one of the conjoined bedrooms had a washing basin in it," Kidman continued, as though catching on to what he was thinking. "Or I guess you could just pull the nails out here-"

"We're at least leaving this room first," Sebastian reminded, ushering them to move.

The three of them had to work their way through the small, shell-shocked room, bypassing the mild destruction, and stepping over small debris, as well as the charred bodily remains from the former Haunted. It felt like it took them longer than it should've just for them to make it back out into the narrow corridor outside.

Kidman took point and lead them down the connecting hallway, minding her steps as she did so. Just like with the death trap from before, the explosion had been loud, and if there were any more Haunted left in this mansion, they would all be hording their way here.

It didn't hurt to be overly cautious, as they had learned enough of by this point.

They made it back to the main corridor without issue, and the continuous blanket of silence over the place pushed that they were still alive for the time being. It surely wouldn't last long but hopefully it would last long enough.

There was a shared consensus of hesitation in walking down towards the still open death trap. It continued to appear dormant for the time being, but there was no denying that none of them believed it to be fully disarmed either. And considering how gruesome of a death it would be, none of them were willing to take their chances with it.

Not again.

So maybe it was almost laughable how the three of them all consciously hugged the wall to their left, purposely avoiding the center of the corridor.

But this place had scarred them enough as it was.

Survival instincts were all that were keeping them alive.

(That and each other.)

Halfway down the corridor, still hugging the left wall, Joseph watched as Kidman came to a stop in front of them. He wanted to question her motive for doing so, but decided to wait and see if there had been something she had heard and he had missed. Instead, he watched as Kidman reached out and brushed her hand along the wall next to her.

It was a little odd but Joseph just assumed that she had saw something- maybe a second trigger for the trap in front of them.

And while he didn't want to think about that death trap regaining momentum again, he did.

And the thought alone was enough to have him pause as well, choosing to stay back while Kidman pushed forward a few steps.

Joseph watched as Kidman moved with her hand, clearly looking for something along the wall before she found it. He watched as part of the wall was seemingly pushed open as Kidman bore weight against it- revealing the piece to be a door instead.

One that they must've missed during their initial search of this place.

Then again, they didn't really get much of a chance to fully search this corridor before things went to shit, so Joseph wasn't all that surprised to see that they had missed a room. It didn't help that the door shared the same accents and trims as the wall around it, helping it to blend in almost seamlessly. The dim lighting of the hallway certainly helped in its favor too.

Kidman braced her left arm against the door and eased it open, all while she drew her gun free with the other hand.

If there had been anything on the other side, it would've kicked the door open by now- or at least it would've attempted to grab Kidman. But the woman didn't alert them to anything as she stepped completely inside of the dimly-lit room, disappearing from view for a few seconds.

Joseph heard Sebastian pull his gun loose behind him, and did the same.

"Kidman?" Joseph called after her, before he slowly moved to follow after her. Even if it was a seemingly empty room, he didn't like the quiet game that the woman was pulling on them. Not that Kidman was loud to begin with, but... a simple call out, or something would be better than waiting in dead silence. Especially given the open death trap in front of them.

But at the same time, it was possible that he just didn't hear her reply either.

By the time he made it to the open doorway, Joseph just about ran into Kidman on her way out.

"It's clear," Kidman started, holstering her gun before she gestured to the room behind her. "Not sure if this place still has running water, but you could probably wash up better in here."

It took a second to make sense of her words before Joseph slowly looked into the room behind her. And he was surprised to find that it appeared to be the master bathroom. Which only made the placement of it more odd considering that it was half-concealed, but again... this mansion wasn't exactly normal- even before this nightmare took it over.

"I'm not even going to question it," Kidman continued, as though agreeing that the timing was perfect, if not also odd.

Joseph stepped inside and looked the small room over, not surprised to find that it matched the same Victorian-era sort of theme that the rest of the mansion had going on. It had the basic bathroom essentials, while keeping an already water-filled washing basin on a pushing table to replace the non-functioning sink. At least, he was pretty certain that running water wasn't a possibility here- and even if it was, he didn't want to know what color it might come out of the pipes as, given how long it had been sitting in there.

Then again, there was no telling just how long the water in the washing basin had been there either.

But after practically swimming through that underground cave system, what worse could there be in this water?

It wasn't like he could exactly afford to be picky at the moment.

"Do you need someone to, you know," Kidman offered, before she made a brief yanking gesture with one hand- which was enough to get her point across.

"I'm fine," Joseph quickly assured, instinctively pulling his half-mutilated arm closer to him. While he wasn't exactly looking forward to stripping nails out of his own arm, he was certainly more comfortable doing it himself rather than letting someone else do it. Not that he didn't trust either Kidman or Sebastian to do it; he just simply didn't want them to. "They shouldn't be too bad of an issue, so I should be able to handle it well enough on my own."

' _Should_ ' being the operative word here.

"You want us to stand outside?" Kidman asked.

And Joseph appreciated her forward offer of giving him his own space to deal with the injury, and soon to be pain; it made it easier on him since now he didn't have to ask for the personal space. But he hated the idea of leaving the two of them outside with that death trap sitting there, taunting them the whole time.

"This is going to take me awhile to take care of," Joseph started, "if you two want to get ahead and take care of that brain puzzle, be my guest."

"And let you miss out on the fun?" Kidman retorted.

"We've hit zero for two with something happening every time we separate in this place," Sebastian reminded, clearly not convinced by the half-made offer. "Both of which have happened within the span of a couple minutes from each other."

It was hard to argue when Sebastian lead off with such a strong point.

Joseph wanted to say that it was all just coincidental, and that statistically they should be in the clear for the time being. After all, only so much bad luck could be against them in this place.

But he didn't exactly have anything to back up that train of thought.

And with his arm in the condition that it was, he didn't exactly have much to argue about safety in this place; safety in numbers was the only thing that had kept them alive for this long.

But at the same time, they needed to get that door open- and they had wasted enough time as it was.

"I'll be right down the hallway," Joseph spoke.

"Yeah just like you were right down the hallway when that bomb went off, or when that death trap went off," Sebastian pressed to remind him. And once more, it brought up their broken record.

But the longer they waited, the further that Doctor and the patient, Leslie, got away from them.

Joseph had yet to figure out the significance either of them played in this world but... at the moment, it didn't matter. He highly doubted either of them had combat training, or weapon training- or anything else that would help keep them alive in this place. And after witnessing some of the horrors this world held, he didn't want to see either doctor or patient become a victim here.

Especially after witnessing Leslie's close encounter with that box-headed creature in the catacombs.

And then almost witnessing it for himself.

"We want to get out of here, don't we?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, preferably with everyone alive."

Sebastian was stubborn and a hard case to crack when he needed to be. Not that the man was completely out of line with his reasoning. It wasn't like they separated often, but it did seem like every time they did, something would happen to one or the other.

They couldn't have predicted the death trap.

And they couldn't have predicted those Haunted or that bomb going off.

Safety in numbers was the smartest way to go.

"Alright, you've made your point," Joseph started, knowing well when an argument was worth dropping. He and Sebastian could go back and forth on this for hours if they wanted to, like they use to, but they didn't exactly have the time. And despite his wanting to save time, he was wasting it just the same by arguing.

It didn't help that the shock and adrenaline from before were starting to wear off finally, allowing the pain from his arm to become more and more apparent- and the pain didn't take long to settle in. As bad as the burns on his left arm looked, they weren't deep enough to kill the nerves under his skin, which left them exposed and overly sensitive to anything as simple as a passing breeze.

He really needed to start ripping the nails out too.

"It's not a bad idea though," Kidman interjected, breaking her silence on the subject at hand; although her expression read well enough that she didn't want to get in between them. But seeing as she was stuck here just the same, her opinion needed to be heard as well. "Two birds, one stone," she offered.

"It's not happening," Sebastian rejected.

"Yeah well, we could've been done with the puzzle by now if we weren't standing around arguing about it," Kidman persisted. "The longer we're out here, the more space Dr. Jimenez and Leslie put between us. And I don't know about you, but doctor or no doctor, Jimenez doesn't seem like the kind to be trusted. I mean, how else would he know where to go in this place? I don't think it's a coincidence that he just happened to make a beeline for that door."

Joseph had little knowledge on who this Dr. Jimenez was, but given Kidman's words and Sebastian's responding frown, he had a feeling these two had more experience with the man. And, maybe it was a gut feeling, but it didn't seem like either of them had a good experience with him.

It was interesting to note that Kidman was showing off her detective skills for once- on her own accord at least.

An odd subject to suddenly go head to head with Sebastian on but... right now the whole thing regarding this Dr. Jimenez and Leslie was leaving them with more questions than answers.

There was a second of pause and Joseph watched the obvious train of thought go through Sebastian's head.

He was surprised that Kidman's remark had been enough to stall the Lead Detective out.

"Fine," Sebastian gave in, looking less than pleased by his own response, before the man turned back to him. "We'll deal with the brain puzzle while you're fixing yourself up. Do _not_ leave this room; we'll come back and regroup with you when we're done. If something does happen, it won't take us long to get here."

Joseph wasn't even going to argue the man's tone.

Whatever got them back on track was fine by him.

"Sounds good to me," Joseph replied, "just be careful with that thing, alright?"

"We'll see."

There were still a few seconds of motionless hesitation before Sebastian stepped out of the room and started back down the corridor- Kidman quick to follow behind him. Despite the agreed upon decision, it was worth noting that neither of them seemed happy about it. Then again, they had both just agreed to sharing yet another experience of sticking a needle into a severed head, so... Not exactly something fun.

Joseph told himself to thank Kidman later as he eased the door partly closed before he made his way to push table.

The decorative mirror hanging on the wall in front of the washing bin already told him what he already knew; that he looked like shit after that explosion- well, he had looked like shit even before it, so it didn't really matter.

He touched one hand to left ear again, wincing as he did so, before he turned his head to see how the blood had made it down to his jaw just before it started to crystallize. There was a little more blood than he was expecting but he tried not to think about it. Joseph grabbed the small hand towel hanging up nearby and almost regretted the choice to ruin the seemingly hand-sewn pattern; he soaked it in the should-be clean water and used it to clean the blood from his face.

Once the blood was washed off, he noticed the small cut that had been hidden on his left cheek.

It must've been from a piece of wood- or maybe from a nail that just barely missed hitting him in the face.

It seemed like he was having equal parts good and bad luck here.

Once that had been taken care of, Joseph's second concern was with the nail in his palm, which had been throbbing nonstop now- just enough to almost make his entire hand feel numb by this point. He carefully maneuvered the fingers on his impaled hand and used them to tug off the glove on his right, which he set aside on the metal tray on the table. Flexing his naked hand, he brushed his fingers over the stuck nail head; he touched it twice before he felt confident that he could get it out in one go.

Getting his fingernails underneath the tight nail head, Joseph managed to ease it out just enough to get a better grip on it- and then yanked it out in one motion afterwards.

The resulting pain burned throughout his hand, causing his fingers to finally curl in on themselves.

It was an oddly familiar sort of pain; one he had gotten used to before.

One that would go away in a minute or two.

A quick examination of the nail itself showed that it was three-inches in length, which was what made the shrapnel effect so dangerous on explosives. There were places on the human body where even just a two-inch stab would be fatal. And with some high-energy explosives, the shrapnel could easily become lodged inside of a person, cutting them open from the inside.

At the very least, for his sake, the nail looked fairly clean; there was no rust or corrosion of some kind on it.

So while the issue of infection was still high, it wasn't nearly as bad at first glance.

Joseph dropped the nail onto the metal tray underneath the small washing bin and listened to the metallic clang that followed.

He could feel warm blood dripping out of his glove now and very carefully removed it; he set the now damaged glove aside with the other.

While he wasn't all that curious to see the injury, it was hard to avoid now that it was bleeding in front of him. It was a textbook, small-scale impalement wound; it left a fairly clean entry and exit, which was surprising given the circumstances. Heavy bruising was already setting in across the back of his hand- a clear reminder of just how fast the shrapnel had ejected during the denotation.

It certainty didn't take long for the injury to settle in and leave its mark.

Joseph moved to squeeze the injury, watching as more red droplets trickled out of it.

It hurt like a bitch but he knew it would be best to bleed the risk of infection out while he could.

He waited until the feeling in his hand came back before he turned his left arm over to inspect the rest of the nails.

There was no part of him that was looking forward to this, but he knew he had to do it.

Joseph started with the nail that had managed to pierce only through the surface skin and quickly pulled it out. It was sheer luck that the nail hadn't pierced any burnt skin, so it didn't hurt nearly as bad as he though it would. It could've easily ripped through the skin with no problem, leaving behind a small flayed area in its wake. It did leave behind a fairly open wound though, which bled more than he would've liked.

It was the second nail to be dropped onto the silver tray.

He was careful to clean the blood from both injuries, trying to avoid getting the open burns themselves wet.

It was almost difficult to watch the thick red droplets splash into the water basin; each drop just barely dispersing across the surface of the water.

There was some hesitation to take as Joseph examined the two nails that had impaled themselves through the meat of his forearm. Both of them were embedded in burnt skin, which only caused more complications for him. He managed to pull one of the nail heads out enough to get a grip on it, but in doing so had to strip a layer of skin that had been burnt over it.

He yanked it out as soon as he could keep a grip on it, just barely getting it out in one go.

The resulting pain was enough to cause him to curl his fingers and clench his fist, forcing him to wait for the numbness to subside.

There was another clang as he dropped that onto the tray as well.

Joseph had to take a minute or two break to get the shaking in his hands to finally stop, before he forced himself to continue.

Pulling out the last impaled nail resulted in a fourth metallic clang.

There was warm blood running down the length of his forearm now; each newly opened wound on his arm made sure to bleed out, dripping some onto the dirty tiled floor at his feet. It was all to get the infection out but... he was damn tired of seeing his own blood by this point.

Regardless, Joseph carefully ran his fingers along his forearm, searching still for more nail heads. He only knew of the four so far, but that didn't mean that there weren't more. And such theory was proven as he found yet another nail located close to his elbow; out of the four so far, that one hurt the most to remove.

And it made itself the fifth one to be dropped.

Part of him was almost regretting that he had passed up on Kidman's offer to do this, but he certainly couldn't put Kidman or Sebastian through this.

He checked his arm over once more before he used the mirror to his advantage- using it to look at the harder to see areas. Which was how he found the small tear in his sleeve about halfway up his bicep- which was also how he found another nail. This one was trickier to grab as it was pressed tight to the surface of his skin and hadn't exited out elsewhere.

But it was the sixth one he dropped once it had been freed.

Another careful search of his arm found that that had been the last of the nails.

_Thankfully_.

Sighing, Joseph took some time to let the pain settle and to let his hands stop shaking. The adrenaline was definitely gone now and the complete, unadulterated pain was quickly making itself at home. His left arm felt like it had been burnt, broken, and stabbed all at once; at this point, he was almost convinced that having it blown off would've been less painful.

Joseph reached up and rubbed at his neck once again, feeling the even tighter pull of his muscles now. It felt like he had whiplash or something of the sort- and he wasn't the least bit surprised by it. It hurt like hell when he tried to turn or move his head, which only caused the pain to spread down to his shoulders. He had felt the same back in the catacombs, after the initial falling through the floor only to collide right into solid stone.

It had cleared up then, so it would certainly clear up now as well.

He felt his fingers brush against something along the back of his neck and, out of current reflex, Joseph didn't hesitate with grabbing it. He didn't even think before he simply yanked at whatever it was, barely feeling something get pulled free from his neck- barely feeling the slight sting that came with the motion.

Instinctively, he dropped it onto the tray as well.

And it made the same clattering sound as the others.

_Seven_.

The sight of yet another nail didn't completely register to him- not immediately anyways.

It was the same as the nails before though; the same three-inch length where a majority of it had been implanted under his skin.

It took awhile for the whole thing to register, for Joseph to realize just what exactly he had done- just what exactly he had pulled out of his neck. And there was a split second of panic as fingers moved to where the now open wound was on his neck. The reoccurring thought here was that the Haunted didn't exactly take as much of the shrapnel blast as he had previously thought.

Which now meant that there was a good chance that this was not the only piece of shrapnel that had hit him.

Joseph could feel the warm trickle of blood rolling down the back of his neck now.

Already he could count himself lucky that the nail didn't hit a nerve or strike an artery on the way in. The nerve pain might take longer to settle in, but an artery shot would've been evident by now.

As bad as it was though, Joseph just wanted to push it from his mind.

He had enough things to worry about.

He needed to take things one at a time or else he'd risk losing focus on all of them- and right now, he had a lot of things he needed to stay focused on. A brief search turned up no other nails on his neck so maybe he was still leaning on good luck here. After all, he had gotten lucky with the cut on his cheek; so maybe only one nail had managed to catch him above the left arm.

Joseph moved to pick up the hand towel to bring it to his neck but was stopped as a sudden sharp pain in the back of his head exploded forward.

It was immediately debilitating- damn near taking most of his senses with it.

A wheezed gasp escaped him from the unprovoked attack and Joseph grabbed onto the pushing-table for balance; he found himself having to force himself to keep breathing, forcing each breath through clenched teeth. Despite everything he had experienced up until now, he had never felt a pain like this.

And as white-knuckled as his hands were, the pain didn't weaver in the slightest. It pounded relentlessly behind his eyes, feeling as though it was trying to push them out of their sockets. The pain remained in his head but managed to spread itself down his neck, across his shoulders, and further down his spine- flooding every nerve receptor available.

And despite how he tried to fight it, tried to resist it, Joseph felt that familiar sensation begin to wash over him.

He was going to pass out.

Just as soon as the thought so much as crossed his mind, he felt it get drowned out by white noise.


	8. Building

_Joseph could feel the sharp pain in his back as he walked._

_The open wound across the back had torn through his clothing, through his skin, and had made it down to muscle. The only thing that had saved him from the blunt axe head going down to his spine was the lack of finishing power behind the swing. He could feel the warm blood running down the curve of his back, pooling above his hips, and staining the uniformed shirt and vest he always took pride in maintaining. The clothing was quick to turn damp as it tried to soak up every bleeding drop from the grievous injury._

_The quiet creaking of his ribs and the pain that came with moving his left arm implied that a couple of ribs might've been fractured- maybe even broken from the attack. It felt like they had snapped off just a few inches away from where they had once been connected to his spine. The slightest reach of his left arm had the ribs feeling loose, as though they were pulling out from underneath their protective membrane; the motion ached, as though the ribs were moving, protruding out from underneath his skin._

_A sneaking blow from behind._

_A cowardly attack._

_Nevertheless, regardless of the fresh injury, Joseph had her right where he wanted her._

_Kidman just didn't know that part yet._

_The woman didn't think he had seen her duck into the dark auditorium room, hoping that the carpeted flooring would mask the sound of scrambling limbs in loud clicking heels. She maybe hoped that the lack of lights in the dark room would give her better coverage, that it would give her a cloak she could use to further hide from him._

_She thought she could just hit-and-run and hope that he was too distracted by the pain to notice her take flight._

_Joseph had let her run a few trapped laps around the connecting rooms._

_He let her believe that she had lost him- that she would have time to formulate her next move without his interference._

_Oh but she was wrong._

_She just didn't know it yet._

_The dark auditorium might've hidden her from his clouded eyesight, but it was no better than the brightly-lit medical bay, or even the adjoining science lab. Where Kidman might've thought she had the advantage over him due to his limited vision, she overlooked one quality. Whether or not he could see her, and whether or not he could hear her, she had no place to run._

_Nothing ever escaped him._

_And she would not be the first._

_Joseph tightened his fingers around the broken shard of glass in hand; a small memento from the apparatus Kidman had attempted to use and blind him with before. He could still feel the sharp pain throbbing behind his eyes from the sudden burst of light- ignited by her hand. He could still feel the bubbling of blood around his left eye; he could still feel the subtle trickling of it down one cheek._

_The sharp sparking of light combined with the same blinding attack from before had caused the pressure behind his eyes to build. And once it had build to its breaking point, it ruptured a few vessels, eventually forcing blood out from behind his eye. Every time he blinked he could feel the blood filling the empty space behind his eyelid; he could feel the pressure that kept the blood coming, that kept it trickling down against his face._

_Kidman knew what his weakness was and had subjected him to it twice._

_But no matter._

_He would make her regret that decision._

_Pausing at the open doorway to the auditorium, Joseph waited, abiding his time- knowing that Kidman was somewhere in this room._

_And all it took was the slightest shift of movement in the corner of his left eye to give her away._

_"Found you."_

_Kidman thought she could outrun him as she pushed herself out from behind the large table to his left and attempted to make it to the back of the room- attempting to escape out into the hallway. It would give her another chance to run, another chance at losing him- another chance to get another weapon, another chance to sneak up on him again._

_Oh but he was quicker._

_He had already anticipated her running; he had already been two steps ahead before she had even thought to get to her feet._

_Joseph caught her by the back of her shirt, a handful of her collar, before he yanked Kidman back towards him; he used the weight of her own body, the weight of her own momentum to sink the shard of glass into the side of her ribs. Kidman screamed, just barely stunned by the opening stab, before she threw her arm back against him._

_Adrenaline and shock were a deadly combination; they could suppress the feeling of pain when it came down to the fight or flight simulation._

_Joseph took the hit as it came to him, feeling her elbow hit him just below the right eye._

_He felt his cheekbone grind under the blow, a common self-defense maneuver, but his decision to take the hit full head-on allowed him to keep the firm grip he had on her. Despite her thrashing, he never lost his hold. Ripping the shard of glass free from her ribs, Joseph felt her thrash against him once more- this time causing him to slice open her shoulder when he was trying to aim for her neck; a lucky miss._

_This time Kidman got loose, breaking the grasping hold on her shirt as she kicked away from him._

_Which was fine by him._

_He wasn't looking to kill her- not yet at least._

_He just wanted to slow her down._

_And judging by the pained stumble she took to break her freedom, the desperate grasping of fingers against her ribs, he had done his work._

_Joseph tossed the bloodied shard aside, no longer needing its assistance; he only needed to take a few steps after Kidman before he caught up to her again. He grabbed Kidman by the arm and jerked her around to face him- grabbing her by the jaw next to keep her from immediately fighting his hold. It didn't stop her from fighting him regardless though, as he felt the way she clawed at his wrist, his arms, eventually his face- ripping at the already open blisters on his skin._

_And again, he felt the warm blood spill itself down his cheek._

_"This isn't you, Joseph!" Kidman spat, spitting through clenched teeth, still clawing at the hand locked to her jaw._

_It was odd to see such a docile, such a lifeless face from before, seem so caught up in emotions now._

_"Just like this isn't you!" Joseph bit in return, before he released her jaw just to grab at the side of her head instead. He took a handful of her hair in his grasp before he used it as leverage to throw her into the nearby wall. Kidman could barely recover in enough time to anticipate his move; she slammed into the wall almost face first, just as he had intended._

_And she hit just hard enough that it momentarily stunned her, which was just long enough for him to grab her again._

_And he was more than happy to see the fresh split on her temple, the blood on her lips; the growing bruise on her jaw and cheek. A morbid sort of portrait of beauty, of deserved punishment._

_"Isn't that right, Agent Kidman?"_

_And that was her weakness, that was her downfall._

_She didn't know that he knew._

_That he had always known._

_"Did you really think that I would just let you walk away from this?" Joseph pressed, jerking her in close to him, bring them almost face to face. "Did you think that I would just roll over and watch while you screwed over everyone-"_

_Her fingers grabbed at his collar, almost desperately, almost as though she was holding onto him. Maybe in some failed attempt to justify herself, to plead for her own innocence in the matter._

_But Joseph felt her motive in the way her knee suddenly sank into his stomach, in the way one of her hands let go of him- only to form a fist that then sank into his already fractured ribs._

_Joseph heard them crack again and felt the sharp pain that pulled tight across his chest._

_A forced wheeze escaped him and he lost his grip, allowing Kidman to pull herself free._

_Or at least, she thought she had._

_He wasn't done with her yet._

_Joseph used his own weight, used the lingering loss of strength in his legs to tackle her to the ground before she could get away. And Kidman fought him the entire way down, sinking a knee into his ribs now, before their combined weight bore down on the open wound of her own ribs. And it was all too easy to see the dark stain that now spilled out against the carpet underneath her, weakening her by the second._

_Giving him the opening that he needed._

_He moved his hands to curl around her neck and shifted his weight, moving his body into the position he would need to break it._

_"What were you thinking, Kidman?" he whispered, feeling the fighting press of her hands clawing at his chest, gripping at his shoulders, at his own neck. This was not a woman who would go to her grave pleading- but rather fighting with bared teeth and hell in her eyes. He had the upper hand on her, but she would make him fight for it for as long as she could._

_Joseph felt her fingers clawing at his face once more, ripping at the skin opened by blisters, peeling it back under her nails. If there was any pain, he didn't feel it; all he felt was the warm blood spilling down his face, spilling a crimson mess around her hands._

_"Did you really think I wouldn't figure you out? You left a paper trail behind you, Kid. I think you wanted me to find you-"_

_"You're not real-!"_

* * *

Joseph woke with his breath caught in his throat.

Half gasping, half choking as the scene continued to play out in front of him.

He could still hear the screaming in his ears; he could still feel the desperate clawing, the desperate hands curled into fists against his chest. The cold sense of weight filling the empty space between his ribs continued to linger inside of him; a reminder of the feeling of detachment he had towards the struggling underneath him. The detachment he had towards willingly hurting, willingly beating Kidman.

But more cruelly, he could still see her face.

Bloodied and bruised.

Lips peeled back in a desperate, fighting snarl.

No doubt to mirror his own demented grin.

Joseph started to push himself up, desperate to find Kidman, to prove to himself that what he saw wasn't real; that it was just a nightmare, not a memory- he was willing to battle his own lingering disorientation to do it. He barely pushed himself onto his forearms before he felt the sharp pain that speared across his back. It throbbed in the hollow curve of his spine but it didn't take long for the pain to spread across his body; it took only seconds before it was enough to bring him back down, sinking him into the mattress beneath him.

His ribs ached in conjunction, now irritated and wounded by the sudden movement- seemingly sparked by the first instance of pain. He felt that same hollowed throbbing as he felt his ribs pull tight under his skin, mimicking the pain that had once been felt at their connection to his spine; it only added pain to his already crippled back.

It was mirroring the same pain from that nightmare...

Quite convincingly too.

Half paralyzed by the agony and still stuck in the confusion of what exactly had happened, and what was happening now, Joseph moved his hands to his face. He looked for the open blisters, the peeling cuts that had once been there- another telltale sign of what he had experienced; he searched for the warm blood that had once spilled down his cheeks and dripped off of his chin.

The memory still lingered on his skin.

But his fingers find nothing but smooth skin, which was chilled more from the air around him than from blood loss. The only wound he could find was a small cut to his left cheek, and even then it was too large to be made by a fingernail. There were no injuries- nothing that carried over from what he had seen, from what he had experienced in that nightmare.

Joseph found his hands shaking at the predicament.

He couldn't be positive if it was from the lack of injuries, or from the swift blinding pain that had spread from his back to his head, and was now gradually making it to his eyes. He closed them in an attempt to stop the pain from spreading- hoping the gesture would give him some ease. Joseph slowly pushed his fingers under his glasses, gradually massaging his eyes in a loose attempt at quelling the pain.

He pressed his palms flat against his cheeks- only to feel another stab of pain through his left hand.

Pulling his hand away, Joseph did so just enough to get a look at it, wondering just when exactly he could catch a break in this place.

And his eyes landed on the white makeshift bandage wrapped tight around his palm, interlacing around his thumb. And the sight of it was enough to stop him, enough to pull his attention away from his back, away from the nightmare vision. Joseph remembered the distinctive pain in his left arm in that vision, and when he partly lifted the same arm, fueled by his bandaged palm, he could see where the rest of his forearm had been wrapped in the same manner. He could see where tiny specks of blood had already dotted certain areas of the bandage, implying wound placements that continued down his forearm.

And Joseph remembered something that registered closer to reality.

He remembered investigating that back storage room.

He remembered disarming that wall bomb- or at least trying to until those Haunted broke in and interrupted him.

He took a nasty explosion nearly head-on.

He got his arm mutilated by the fire, by the shrapnel.

And he took the full force of the whole thing straight into a wall.

... That was the real reason it felt like he could barely move, the real reason why his back was hurting the way it was.

Not from... whatever it was that he had experienced.

While Joseph never saw the injury in that nightmare to begin with, he somehow knew that it had been caused by an axe- or at least, some kind of blunted-edge weapon. And an open injury like that would certainly be hurting a lot more than what he was feeling now. Not to mention there would've been blood all over the place. Not to mention the blood loss.

Joseph had previous experiences with heavy blood loss before; he knew how the symptoms felt- and he knew that right now, he wasn't feeling any of them.

His back was going to be bruised as hell at this point, along with a few of his ribs for that matter.

But the pain didn't come from that nightmare... and that was all that mattered to him.

For now, he could convince himself that it had been just that, just a nightmare.

Hell, he hadn't exactly been in the greatest mental state lately- he shouldn't be surprised that something like that would come to him. But... it had been so vivid. And he could still feel it.

He couldn't write it off just yet, not until he was certain.

Not until he could see Kidman again.

Joseph allowed himself to be distracted by the subtle pain in his left arm and lifted it above him to examine again. The bandages, which looked more like torn up bed sheets now that he looked at them, would do little to actually treat the burn, or even prevent it from getting infected further. In fact, the bandages would do little more than keep things from getting into the raw injury itself.

Which was better than nothing in the long run.

And in a place like this, he really couldn't afford to be picky.

But he could see where someone had made sure to keep the bandages loose so that they weren't pressed tight against the burnt skin. There were carefully placed knots over the top of his forearm- perhaps marking the placement of where each nail that had gone into his arm; the knots assured little more than additional pressure to be placed on the individual wounds, which would help maintain blood loss.

Between Sebastian or Kidman, Joseph had to admit that he wasn't exactly sure which of them had made the bandage. After working with both of them, he couldn't say that he was confident in either of their first aid abilities.

(Hell Joseph wouldn't be surprised if he had done it and just couldn't remember it.)

The pain in his back had thankfully settled by now, just enough for him to be convinced that he could move again.

Joseph attempted once more to push himself back up and managed to do so with slow success this time. There was still pain but it was tolerable enough to work through, just so long as he didn't push it too far, too fast. He eventually moved from his forearms to his palms and tried to ignore the tension that pulled from the back of his hips and stretched up along his spine.

His legs felt heavy as he practically dragged them over the side of the small bed and Joseph found himself having to fight the rush of nausea that washed over him when he was finally sitting up again. The pain had spread from his back to over his shoulders and up along his neck all over again- but in a more vertical position, with his weight off of the pressure points, the pain felt more manageable to deal with.

Joseph reached up and removed his glasses, just long enough for him to rub at his throbbing eyes again- hoping the quell the persistent ache behind them. With how much pain they had been giving him as of late, he was surprised that he hadn't gone blind from it- or that he hadn't just gouged them out himself. Which, while ridiculous to consider, he had to admit that the temptation of doing so liked to hang around, reminding him that it was still technically an option.

And he kept it at arm's length as just that.

Giving a heavy sigh, he ran a hand down his face and tried to collect his thoughts.

There were too many things to focus on but he needed to get his bearings back.

Right now he needed to figure out where he was.

Pulling his glasses back into place, Joseph blinked a few times to ease the ache before he looked around him. It didn't take much to convince him that he wasn't back in that locked up place again. He wasn't back in the brightly-lit room that made his eyes throb and threaten to pop out of their sockets. There was no auditorium here; there was no research lab, no medical bay.

In fact... Joseph knew exactly where he was.

He was back in the Victoriano mansion- thankfully or not, he hadn't decided yet. He was in the small supply room between the dining hall and that backroom where they had originally found the first of the brain experiment things. The room might've once been a kitchen, but he couldn't be certain given its dilapidated state now; hell it could've been anything at this point.

But... why the hell was he back here?

The last place he remembered being was in the domestic wing of the mansion, in the master bathroom yanking nails out of his arm. Which, now that he was thinking about it, Joseph found it interesting that while the missing glove on his left hand made sense due to the bandaged injury, he was missing his right glove as well. He barely recalled removing both of them prior to nail removal but... Joseph supposed he had assumed that either Sebastian or Kidman would just put them back on. Or at least leave them on his person.

The stinging cold in the joints of his hands and fingers were evident now, and Joseph tried to ignore the subtle hint of blue at his fingertips.

That didn't give him an answer as to why he was here in this supply room in the first place though.

The last thing he remembered was a sharp pain in his head just before he passed out.

He really must've taken a head wound from that explosion- a concussion maybe.

In which case, passing out was the worst thing he could've done.

But considering he was awake right now, Joseph could only assume that he was well enough to be.

He really couldn't stay here and waste time though.

He needed to find Sebastian and Kidman.

He didn't like being alone in this place, let alone in this mansion; nothing good ever came from him being on his own.

Despite his body protesting it, Joseph slowly forced himself to his feet regardless. The pain from his back had died down again, so it felt tolerable enough for him to risk standing with it. It sounded like every joint in his body protested and popped with the motion- and Joseph swore one of his ribs sounded like it had snapped back into place.

His whole body was stiff as he finally forced himself to straighten up and stand long enough to get a better hold over his balance. There was just a touch of vertigo that struck before it seemed to die off as quickly as it had washed over him, which he was thankful for. It felt like he could barely sit up, let alone stand, let alone walk, all of which he needed to do.

It felt like he had been thrown through the floors of that church all over again.

Joseph brushed the back of his hand across his mouth and tried to catch his breath, trying to figure out just where he would go from here.

(More like where he _could_ go.)

But he paused as he noticed the blood on his hand afterwards, as he took notice of the taste of blood on his lips now. Joseph hesitated at the sight before he reached up and touched at his lips once more. And as he should've expected, his fingertips came back smeared with blood just the same.

Another nosebleed.

It was probably just a side effect from sitting up too quickly, from moving too quickly, especially after that blow he had suffered from before. Which was perfect because he certainly didn't have enough ailments to take care of as things were already.

...

But it didn't take long for Joseph to remember that nightmare.

To remember the image of his hands wrapped around Kidman's throat.

And a chilling coldness settled into the pit of his stomach.

Had he- did he really turn into one of those creatures again?

No.

No, he couldn't have- he would've remembered doing it.

Just like he remembered at the asylum, when Joseph saw himself put his hands around Sebastian's neck with every burning intent to kill him. He had been powerless to stop his own body from doing it; no matter how badly he had fought and screamed at himself to let the man go, it had all been wasted effort. And Joseph had that memory permanently burned into his head now, unable to forget it- not that he would allow himself to.

It was a constant reminder of why he couldn't let this place keep beating him.

A reminder that he was putting everyone else in danger if he did.

But that nightmare, that... that wasn't a memory; he had no earlier recollection of any of that.

He would've remembered it; he would've known about it when they were at the church, when they were in the catacombs.

But he _didn't_.

And yet Joseph could still feel himself stabbing Kidman in the ribs; he could still feel the impression of the glass in his palm, tucked under his fingers.

Christ, he couldn't hurt Kidman, not like he had in that nightmare.

Not like he had hurt Sebastian before.

He couldn't go through something like that again!

As much as Joseph wanted to dismiss it, as much as he wanted to believe that it had just been a nightmare, he knew he couldn't just write it off either. He could recall every time he had turned into one of those Haunted but... at the same time, he didn't have a complete record of where he was at all times. Joseph had to admit that there were black spots in his memory.

He remembered getting the call to Beacon, he remembered walking into the massacre of the lobby, he remembered finding the doctor but... then he remembered Sebastian waking him up in the belly of the asylum.

There were no in-betweens.

And yet, Sebastian could recall full events.

Sebastian remembered the moment of getting knocked out in Beacon, to waking up in the basement of the asylum, to leaving it again with Kidman. Sebastian remembered Connolly being there; he remembered the doctor and Leslie being with them too.

But Joseph couldn't.

_Hell,_ he apparently hadn't even been there with them when they escaped.

And even now, he didn't know where he had been.

Whether it was the work of a suppressed memory or something, he didn't know.

The fact of the matter was that there was probable cause that the nightmare could've been real, that it could've happened.

_This place is just putting you on edge, it's making you think you're crazy,_ Joseph tried to assure himself.

After all, he had just seen Kidman.

They had just been together investigating.

If something bad had happened between them, if what he had seen really did happen, Kidman would've said something.

...

Right?

Christ, why was this place trying to turn him into some kind of monster?

_Because you're just like them.._

Joseph felt a cold shiver run down his spine at the words that came whispering from the back of his head. Reflexes had him looking behind him for the source, expecting to find someone else in the room with him- not wanting to admit that he already knew where the words had come from. Not wanting to admit that he already knew whose voice it was.

The words lingered in his head, echoing over and over again- ensuring that he had heard them each and every time.

_Consumed by anger, consumed by hate- you can't even stand to look at the fucking mess you've become._

It was the same voice, the same ordeal from the church- hell, even from before the church, from before he had ever stepped a foot in that damned chapel.

It was the same voice from the asylum.

Back when Sebastian first found him.

It was always a white noise, a high-pitched ring.

_You're no different from them, no matter how hard you keep trying to deny it._

_You deserve to know what it's like to be split apart from the inside out, just like them._

It was like a separate personality, a separate entity.

A growing tumor that was becoming more and more sentient and more hungry for control; it was something that couldn't be cut out or ignored.

It was him and not him, all in the same order.

And there wasn't a damn thing Joseph could do about it, no matter how hard he tried to fight and push it down.

It had forced him across that damn bridge, suffocating his objections with the false ideals that the sharp guillotine would save him from this world.

It had put the gun to his head, gently assuring him that it was for the best.

_You're a monster and you know it._

_And they know it too..._

_You can't keep hiding it from them- if you do, you'll just end up killing them before this is all over._

_And then they'll be just like you._

All of that work, all of the force it took to keep going and push through the hollow shell of what he had become... all of it was for nothing.

The voice didn't left the church.

It didn't left the chapel.

And it didn't leave him.

It never had.

He had never won.

_Do them a favor..._

No!

No, he wasn't- he couldn't let that thought finish; he wasn't going to.

Not here, not now...not with no one to stop him.

The last thing he needed to do right now was panic and start second-guessing things- especially not while he was by himself. Not while he had that voice trying to talk to him. Not when he could feel the steady weight of his gun tucked in its holster, pressed against his left arm.

Joseph had to remind himself that the further he dropped into despair, the longer he listened to that voice, the less his chances of recovering from it were; he could barely fight it off last time, hell he didn't even want to. But he couldn't have a repeat of the church. Not like this, not when he had just gotten himself back under control.

He was still trying to recover from that exhausting ordeal and despite acting better, it felt like he had made little progress in doing do.

He could still feel those stabbing pains in his head and the lingering feeling that he was walking around already dead on the inside.

But he had to keep pushing through it.

If he let go now, if he failed to maintain a clear head and a fighting will, then there was no chance that he would be able to pull himself away from that ledge again. It was a painful thought, but even he knew that if he slipped again, even just once... there was no coming back a second time.

He had to keep moving forward.

He had done this plenty of times before... this shouldn't be any different.

Trying to steady his breathing, Joseph ran his fingers under his collar and tried to ignore the beads of cold sweat on the back of his neck; he was almost shivering now. The thoughts, the possibilities, the outcomes that were running through his head right now were not thoughts that he wanted to be consumed by.

Right now, he really just needed to find Sebastian and Kidman.

Wiping the blood off on the bed sheet behind him, Joseph slowly worked his way out of the small back room- ignoring the combination of growing pain coming from his back and head now. He stepped through the small supply room and through the connecting narrow corridor, half-barricaded by old boxes, before he pushed through the door that lead out into the dining room.

Once elegant, the antique room felt like an unsettled ghost haunting the air around him.

It was too quiet, too still.

And with no plausible evidence to work off of, nothing more than a gut feeling, Joseph felt like the room had just always been like that. Even before this mess, before whatever tragedy that struck this place had done its deed.

It only left him more uneasy, more unsettled himself- now a little more desperate to figure out where his partners had gone.

He still had yet to figure out how he had gotten separated from them in the first place, and why he had ended up here of all places. Given the condition he had been in just before he had passed out, there was no way he would've made it back down here on his own.

Carefully closing the door behind him, ensuring nothing could catch him from the back, Joseph slowly made his way across the room- working his way towards the main hall. He gripped his hands, one into the other, feeling the chill now eating away at his joints, allowing a cold pain to spread down to his wrists.

Joseph barely made it halfway across the room before he watched as the main hall door in front of him was kicked open.

Fingers, still aching and half-working, instinctively moved to his gun.

He unhooked the locking strap of his holster with surprising ease, and started to withdraw his gun- but he barely got it completely free before he stopped. Before his eyes locked onto the barrel that was already staring him down.

Now he himself had yet to run into any Haunted who were capable of actually wielding a gun, but Joseph recalled Sebastian confirming once before that they could. And that they could aim- although not too well.

Which only left this situation a little unnerving.

The gun didn't immediately go off like it should've if it saw him as a target.

It prompted him to slowly look up to the face above it- and he felt himself relax the moment he recognized it.

"Sebastian-" Joseph started, relieved but cautious still as he waited for the other man to put his gun down first.

And the feeling of relief diminished some when Sebastian didn't immediately do so.

The Lead Detective seemed to be staring a hole right through him. His expression was tense, unwavering; there was hardly a twitch of movement asides from his eyes, which seemed to be looking him over carefully. It was almost like Sebastian didn't believe that he was standing in front of him, or maybe the man was seeing him as something else- as something Joseph couldn't see for himself.

Despite the tension in the air, the moment only lasted a few seconds at best.

And then the gun went down- tucked and holstered away.

And Joseph gave out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God, what happened-"

Joseph barely got the chance to finish his sentence before he felt hands suddenly latched tight against his arms, almost pinning them to his sides with the force carried behind them. Joseph sucked in a hard breath at the sudden close of space between them; he was more startled by it than anything- it had happened in less than a blink of an eye.

And it quickly brought him almost face to face with the tense, but now worried expression that had settled on the Lead Detective's face.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sebastian pressed. His voice was strained, almost like the man wasn't trying to sound angry, but that was just how it was coming across as. A common ordeal under normal circumstances. Joseph had figured out how to decode the difference during their years of working together, which was why he didn't feel completely put off by the tone.

But it was at that point Joseph realized that he had never thought to question whether or not Sebastian or Kidman knew of his location. He had only gone off the assumption that they did and never moved from there. Which now that he was looking the other man in the face about it, he could see how that deduction made little sense- especially given that neither of them were around when he woke up.

Joseph didn't get the chance to respond before he heard Sebastian suddenly sigh, before he felt the older Detective squeeze his arms before the man stepped back- giving him a few more inches of breathing room.

The tension in his rough features dropped only slightly.

"You alright?"

And now it was odd to hear the soft tone in Sebastian's voice, especially given that his body was still tense and that the man still looked... unnerved in some way. It was almost like Sebastian was having a hard time believing that he was right in front of him.

"Yeah, I... I'm fine," Joseph assured, although not entirely convinced that it was the truth, but willing to give it as an answer anyways. He gave a sigh himself and managed to wrestle one arm free to rub at the back of his neck, still feeling the tight pull of muscle and skin under his palm. "What happened? I think I blacked out or something- and why am I down here?"

Sebastian looked him over once more, as though needing to check before he started to answer. "You were yanking those nails out of your arm while Kidman and I were working on that brain puzzle," he started, loosening his grip by this point, but only just barely. "We had the thing figured out for the most part, but we were off by less than half an inch with that damn machine." The man gave a subtle grimace, as though recalling the moment. "It felt like we got the needle drilled into our heads instead."

Joseph could recall the sharp pain he had felt just before he blacked out.

So even if he wasn't involved in the puzzle itself, he was apparently still included in the punishment for it.

That hardly seemed fair.

"We both damn near blacked out but managed to fight it off for the most part. Kidman ended up getting pretty sick though and left me to finish the puzzle," Sebastian continued. "She said when she found you, you were still conscious and suffering like we were, but that you eventually passed out. And given the circumstances beforehand, I'm not surprised."

Yeah, Joseph couldn't say that he was either.

"Kidman and I moved you to the master bedroom and..." Sebastian seemed to pause for a second, as though he was having to go through the events himself; as though he was having to relive them before he could continue to talk about them. "Look, Joseph, you were out dead cold. We tried to wake you up but the lights weren't on upstairs. We got your arm patched up and we turned our backs on you for thirty seconds and... the next thing we knew, you were gone."

The ending statement caused Joseph to pause.

He had been following the story well enough up to that point, able to make sense of the whole thing, but now he wasn't so certain.

"Gone?" Joseph repeated.

"One minute you were on the bed and the next you were just gone," Sebastian reiterated. "We didn't hear any footsteps, any sign of movement- and God knows the bed was loud as shit, we would've heard anything. But we didn't. It was like some kind of fucked up magician's trick and he just made you vanish."

Ruvik's magic trick maybe.

In which case... maybe it was possible.

Maybe that nightmare was possible.

Maybe he had been teleported elsewhere, just like they had all been up until the church. Maybe he had gotten teleported into that endless room, going from one to the next to the next, never finding an exit- at least until he had woken up here.

Unless the only exit from that room had been found with his hands around Kidman's neck.

"Is Kidman with you?" Joseph pressed, unnerved by the possibility of the scenario. "... Is she okay?"

"She threw up a couple times after the brain mishap but she walked it off," Sebastian answered. "We just split up to cover the floors again-"

Just the idea of Kidman being by herself was almost antagonizing. The only perk the three of them had over this artificial world was their ability to trust and look out for one another when they were together- or at least, when this world allowed them to be together.

So by all accounts, after their own individual experiences, the last thing they needed to do was willingly separate themselves without the push from outside forces.

"Do you know where she is right now?" Joseph questioned.

"Kidman's fine- look, she's not the one I'm worried about right now," Sebastian replied, almost looking frustrated with him now.

"But I am-"

"Joseph, you've been missing for almost two hours."


	9. Divided.

Two hours?

But- _how_?

If he had blacked out then he sure as hell didn't move on his own.

Magician's trick maybe, but why? And if he had only woken up just now then... where the hell was he before?

Where the hell _had_ he been this whole time?

"What do you mean I've been-" Joseph started, unsure if he could even finish the sentence, let alone the thought. It was hard enough just trying to comprehend the situation, let alone recognize that it was reality. Well, not actual reality, but that it had happened- and in here of all places. And that neither him, nor Sebastian, nor Kidman had any ideas of how or why or... just anything.

They were out of their element in here enough as it was.

And now it was just getting worse for them.

Especially for him it felt.

"Sebastian, if you're screwing with me-"

"Hey, _easy_ , this isn't something I'd fuck around with," Sebastian interrupted; the subtle edge in his voice said enough about how he felt about the implication- and Joseph had to admit he might've been out of line with it. The Lead took a few seconds pause to collect himself before he continued. "Look, Joseph, Kidman and I searched this place room to room and we never even found a trace of you anywhere. Hell, we started questioning if you were even with us to begin with. We both searched down here and you weren't here- so just how the hell are you here now and how the hell did we miss you?"

Joseph completely believed that Sebastian and Kidman would have gone room to room looking for him in this place- and with two hours to burn, they would've looked in every room several times over. He knew they were both highly perceptive and detail-oriented- it came with the job after all- so there was no way either of them could've just... missed him. Even if he was lying completely still in a dimly lit room, like he was, one of them would've eventually noticed.

That didn't give him any answers though.

And it only pushed for the theory that he had been some place else during that time.

"I don't know," Joseph started, knowing full and well that it was an empty answer- and knowing full and well that Sebastian wouldn't like it. But he also knew that it wasn't like he had any other explanations or any other answers to offer back. He didn't even know what was going on either and he was the center point of it all. The more the conversation went on, the more unsettled he was getting over it. "All I know is that I just... woke up back there and both you and Kidman were gone."

"Do you remember anything? Anything that happened between passing out and now?"

Joseph hesitated to give an answer this time.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to expose the mess that was going on inside of his head right now- although it felt as though the mess was clearly obvious no matter how hard he might try to hide it. Hell, at this point, he wasn't sure if he could even explain what was going on- or if he even knew himself what was happening to him.

"No, I just- I remember the bomb going off and I remember pulling the nails out of my arm," Joseph started, making a decent effort to answer what he could. He wanted answers just as much as Sebastian did, but he was already starting to doubt that he would get them. "There was this sharp pain in my head and things go kind of white after that. If Kidman spoke to me at any point following that, I don't recall it."

He could've ended the topic there and the both of them would've still been lost.

But Joseph knew he couldn't risk leaving certain details unspoken.

As much as he didn't want to think about, let alone talk about what he had seen, Joseph knew it would only do more harm if he didn't bring up what he saw- what he half-experienced. He still wasn't convinced that that nightmare had been just that but... he couldn't say that it was real either. It was in this purgatory-like state of believing- except with this case, it felt like it was bad either way he went.

The memories of it were still etched across his skin in cold sweat.

There wasn't much that he could hide it with.

"I had this... nightmare or something and then I woke up here with no idea of when or how I got here," Joseph finished.

It didn't explain how exactly he had presumably been missing for almost two hours though.

It didn't explain how he had managed to evade crossing paths with either Sebastian or Kidman- and that was following the assumption that he had still been in this place to begin with. The Victoriano mansion was big, but it wasn't that big. Not big enough to evade detection from two Detectives who were trained to look for anything and everything out of the ordinary.

Something had happened to him and he didn't know what.

He didn't even know where to start looking for answers either- were there any to be found to begin with.

"What did you see?"

Joseph knew that Sebastian was going to ask, even though he had been hoping to avoid pressing the subject.

He hated talking about it; he hated having to acknowledge that this was happening to him.

"I was that creature again," Joseph answered regardless, feeling that same cold pin dropping into the pit of his stomach. "And I saw myself chasing Kidman, trying to kill her. I think I might have, I don't know, I woke up before I saw how it ended."

He was pretty certain he knew how it ended though.

He saw his hands wrapped around her neck.

That's how it always went.

If the words had any impact on Sebastian, he didn't show it; which was odd considering the implications of the answer. But Lead Detective didn't so much as blink at the answer; it was almost like he had been anticipating it- as though he knew or had guessed it before the topic even came up.

Instead, Sebastian moved a hand to his shoulder, a passing gesture of comfort with a careful squeeze. "I take it that's why you were so adamant about asking about her," he started, to which Joseph nodded. "Kidman's fine. She's been stuck with me for a greater part of the hour- and it's been nonstop about the whole brain thing."

Sebastian's method of comfort, especially on the force, and if that was even the word to use, was usually through blunt words and statements. A simple sentence that said enough to debunk whatever kind of guilt or suspicions a victim might've had. Sebastian wasn't exactly the coddling type, which was why the man usually passed some cases off for Joseph to handle.

And while the blunt words could've been comforting in some sense, they did little to actually help.

Joseph just- he needed to _see_ Kidman in order to believe it, in order to disprove that what he had seen wasn't real.

Sebastian moved his other hand so that they were both resting on Joseph's shoulders now, and it was almost as though the man was having to reassure himself that Joseph was okay for the time being. That his near two-hour long absence had ended better than it could've- especially in a place like this. They had gotten separated for longer periods of time before, sure, but this... this was one of those cases where separation was prayed to be avoided.

It was easy to tell that Sebastian was acting reserved, almost stiff with his gestures now.

The man was trying not to crowd him out of fear of potentially setting him off, but at the same time there had been a lot of worrying that Joseph had been absent from. And considering how strenuous the church and the catacombs had been for the three of them, it was a little surprising to see Sebastian actually worried; this hardly scraped the surface of what the catacombs had been. Then again, it was probably just a constant state of mind that Sebastian was having to be in now, now that he had both Joseph and Kidman to look after.

Right now though, it just wasn't something that Joseph wanted to see again.

"You sure you're alright?"

The fact that Sebastian had to ask implied that the man had seen clear through his facade.

And Joseph wouldn't lie to him; he couldn't.

Doing so would just put all of them at risk.

And they were playing with fire enough as it was.

"No," Joseph admitted. "It feels like I'm back at that church all over again. Not necessarily to the same degree but... I don't think it'll take much to get back to that place again-" he stopped as he felt Sebastian squeeze his shoulders again. It wasn't quite the same gesture as before; it wasn't just a simple touch and go of assurance. This time it was the same gesture that the Lead had constantly done back at the church and throughout the catacombs.

It was a firm hold to make sure that he was still human rather than Haunted.

A careful anchor that he could latch on to if needed.

And it was a motion more than likely made out of reflex at this point.

And despite the negativity that usually provoked it, Joseph still embraced the gesture for what it was worth.

"You'll get through this."

And there was the killing blow.

He could embrace the gesture but... he could go without the words.

Joseph didn't want to tell Sebastian just how tired he was of hearing that.

He didn't want to argue with him about it again.

What he was dealing with wasn't easy and Joseph knew that Sebastian knew that to some extent- but their argument back at the church was a dead giveaway that Sebastian didn't understand that sometimes the fight just wasn't worth it.

Just like this one wasn't.

"I'm trying," Joseph assured, hoping that the words sounded convincing enough. He had to call himself out for being a hypocrite though, for just admitting that he didn't want to lie to Sebastian... only to do it right now. And right to his face. "I just... I'd like to get some fresh air and clear my head."

"You look like you could use it," Sebastian nodded, as the man reluctantly pulled his hands away from him. And there was this sort of pause, this hesitation, as though Sebastian was fully expecting Joseph to disappear again right in front of him. "Come on, I need to regroup with Kidman anyways. She'll want to know that you're alright."

"Yeah, I just- wait, did you leave Kidman by herself?"

"She wanted to search upstairs and she was gone before I could stop her," Sebastian replied, sounding almost frustrating with the answer himself. He turned and stepped back through the dining room door, heading out into the main hall once more.

Christ, the two of them must've really been desperate to find him if they were willing to split up and search the mansion on their own. When Sebastian mentioned that he and Kidman went searching, Joseph assumed he meant together; but if this was the case then he could only hope that Kidman was still somewhere close by.

Joseph followed Sebastian out into the main hall, where he took note that the second mechanism on the door was filled now. Only one left to go then. And considering the shit they went through to find the second one, he didn't exactly have high hopes about what they would have to endure for the third one. That would be a problem for a later time- right now, he just wanted to escape it all as best as one could in here.

Joseph started towards the front door instead.

"Hey, be careful, alright?"

He stopped at the words, at the brief brush of Sebastian's hand against his shoulder once again.

For a split second, the words, the gesture didn't seem out of the ordinary- but Joseph knew that there was a secondary motive behind them. After everything that had happened up to now, known and unknown, Sebastian wouldn't dare let him out of his sight unless it was absolutely necessary. And considering that the man swore he had just seen Kidman, there would be no reason for them to separate now.

Not when they could wait to regroup and take a collective breather together outside.

But Sebastian knew that he needed to leave- at least for just a few seconds.

And Joseph knew why too.

"I'll be fine," Joseph assured, without looking at the man. "It's more dangerous in here than it is outside."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Joseph watched as Sebastian reluctantly continued on to where he must've last seen Kidman, before he himself moved towards the front doors. Pushing one of the doors open, Joseph stepped outside and gave a quiet sigh of relief at the cool air that greeted him. It was still just as overcast and rainy as it had been when they first arrived at the mansion, which felt like it had been days ago rather than just hours.

It was calming, abet still a little ominous, but he was willing to look it over.

And while Joseph knew that he should remain on the defensive, that he should keep his guard up just in case... he didn't. He found himself willingly oblivious to the potential dangers that might be lurking outside in the empty mansion grounds.

As far as he was concerned, as long as he wasn't inside, locked away in any of those rooms, nothing else mattered.

It was odd though.

He assumed the front doors would've locked behind them the second the three of them stepped inside; he figured their entrapment in this hell mansion would've been triggered by Dr. Marcelo and Leslie's escape.

Every other environment they had been to so far had had some creative way of locking them in, forcing them to fight for a way out- if possible. And each time it had been true that the outside world was far more dangerous to be exposed to.

And yet here, the doors remained unlocked.

That wasn't to say that there were many places to go to on the mansion grounds.

But it was a break in perceived habit that stuck out to him.

(Not that he was going to complain.)

Joseph made his way down the front steps and stepped out from under the protective overhang, stepping out into the light rain- and he was glad to have the wet texture against his skin.

It was soothing, almost cleansing compared to the griminess that had been following them everywhere so far.

It was also a distraction.

A distraction from the dark veins that had clustered around his wrists and formed knots up along his forearms. Joseph had been trying to, and failing to ignore them since he woke up but... they were nearly impossible to not see. His left arm had been bandaged, covering most of the skin of his forearm, which had delayed his noticing of the knotted veins. But it was when he saw the blood on his right hand, when he saw the near blue tips of his fingers, that he spotted the swollen veins that now moved like parasites under his skin.

But it wasn't so much seeing them as much as it was feeling them tangling together that got to him, creating uneasy tension that pulled tight at his joints and sent numb pain into his fingertips from time to time. It made his skin feel tight and made it almost ache every time he moved, like someone had twisted the veins around their fist and were constantly tugging on them- threatening to pull them out.

The worst part about them was that they were only the first stage.

After the swollen veins would be the red blemishes, like fresh burns around bloodshot eyes that would ache at the slightest hint of light. And it was that light sensitivity that he was already struggling against. Back in the catacombs, when they only had the light of Sebastian's lantern to guide them, Joseph could still barely stand looking at it.; it felt like he was constantly on the verge of a migraine.

But after that would come the random bruises around his neck and arms that would grow darker the more despaired, the more lost he became. He didn't know what the trigger for those ones were, whether it was a feeling of helplessness, or a sense of being a burden. Either way, he had felt both, and each time they had only made the bruises grow larger and darker on his skin.

Sometimes Joseph could see clear hand impressions through the bruises, complete with thin scratches from overgrown nails that had latched on and dug in. And even though he had no recollection of someone grabbing him, of someone scratching him, he knew that something had. There was some kind of dark presence inside of him, the same one that used his own voice against him, and this was its way of trying to claw itself out.

And then the nosebleeds would start.

And then the blisters would come.

And then it would be all over after that.

He would turn into one of those Haunted.

The swollen veins were only the first stage though. It was still possible for him to pull out of it and even if he did slip, he could still risk one more stage. But if he didn't remain observant about it now, if he didn't try to keep it under control now, then he would slide through the stages faster than he could anticipate. Faster than he could even try to control.

And once he was on that downward path, it was much harder to get out of.

Joseph walked up to the discolored, water-stained fountain and let one hand move underneath the rainwater running off of it. Despite the chill, the water was warmer than anticipated; it almost felt sticky against his skin- more like sweat than water. He used it to wash off the remaining blood still smeared on his hand, and did so for his face as well.

Part of him had been hoping that the nosebleed had just been an illusion.

But such was not the case unfortunately.

A bad sign, but he was willing to blame it on his physical condition rather than his mental one; it was the more comforting option.

Joseph barely got the chance to enjoy the rain and silence for as long as he wanted, for as long as he needed, before he heard the front door opening behind him. He almost wanted to pretend to ignore it, for sanity's sake at least, but decided against it; it wasn't his right to deny.

"Joseph!"

And the sound of Kidman's voice calling for him was enough to have him turn around and face her without further hesitation.

"Oh thank God, you're alright," she started, leaving the front door partly open behind her in her hurry to get to him.

Despite the confusing situation that they were in, and despite its good reason, Joseph was still a little surprised to see that Kidman looked genuinely concerned about him; it was a rare trait to see from the usually stoic woman.

The only other time he had seen the same expression was back at the asylum, right after he had gotten tackled over the balcony railing by one of those creatures. It had been a blindsided hit when his attention was more focused on Kidman and stopping Sebastian from running headfirst into a well-planned trap. And as usual it felt, his observation backfired on him; he didn't even hear the Haunted who had managed to sneak up on him.

Even in his brief, dazed state, Joseph had managed to catch the panicked look Kidman had given him. He had fallen a good story and broke a table on impact- and even then, the Haunted had taken most of the force; the damn thing had even broken his own fall in the attempt.

Meanwhile, she had been the one stuck inside of a quickly filling glass tank.

Joseph still thought it odd that, for being stuck in a death trap, Kidman had, in that moment, been more concerned for him than herself.

But as Kidman drew closer to him, Joseph felt his attention get drawn to the scattered bruises across her face. The split cut of her bottom lip, the open cut across one temple; the purple and blue knot on her right cheek. He had seen the injuries in their infancy back at the church, but now here the wounds had settled in and redefined themselves. Swelling had gone down to expose the full length of a cut. Bruises had gotten darker and larger; the broken blood flow under the skin finally having settled in.

The bruises around her neck.

The still raw cut of her left shoulder.

And that nightmare came back to him, playing itself over and over again in his head.

And he could see his own hands making those injuries, again and again.

_You'll get use to the taste of barbed wire._

It wasn't until Joseph felt Kidman against him, arms hooked underneath his own, that he pulled himself away from the loose memories. And once he did, only then did he realize that the woman was hugging him. Joseph hesitated at the uncharacteristic act before he moved a hand to her back, more out of courtesy than anything.

And once more, he was reminded that just because he had no recollection of the time passed, it didn't mean that she and Sebastian hadn't been haunted by the empty two hours spent searching.

Joseph felt the subtle hint of desperation in the slight squeeze Kidman gave his ribs before she pulled away. And he noticed even when she pulled back, she didn't pull away too far; she still stayed close to him, almost chest-to-chest still as her hands remained lightly curled against his vest.

"What happened?"

As much as he appreciated seeing Kidman again, he really didn't want to go through this spill again.

"Did Sebastian not talk with you?" Joseph asked instead, trying his best not to sound like an asshole with the question. He figured Sebastian would've given her a brief rundown of the situation considering that there really wasn't much to say about it.

Considering that there really wasn't much of an answer to it either.

"He might've tried," Kidman started, "but I sort of just ran past him as soon as he said he found you. I guess I should've stuck around for the debriefing."

Joseph managed a quiet chuckle at her choice of words; Kidman hardly ever used textbook vocabulary and this hardly seemed like the place to start doing it. And as she was speaking, it seemed as though she had taken note of her own behavior and was put off by it now- given that she had taken a step back from him.

Perhaps she had just realized that she was showing more concern than she intended to and that she was letting her actions get ahead of her.

Or maybe she had noticed the dark veins wriggling under his skin and was backing away out of precaution.

"Well, unfortunately, there's no answer for you," Joseph replied. "Hell if I know what happened. I passed out and woke up with absolutely no passage of time in-between."

"Perfect."

The sense of disappointment and almost dread in her voice was almost too easy to pick out.

Sort of like the dark bruises on her jaw where it looked like his hand could fit.

"Is your arm alright-" Kidman started.

"Your injuries happened at the church right?" Joseph questioned instead- and the look Kidman gave him in return told him that he had caught her off-guard. This wasn't the best setting, nor the best timing but... he had to know. He had to know before they moved on, before things went further than this. He had to know if he was putting Kidman and Sebastian at risk by being around them. "That's what you told us... right?"

The silence that followed was almost nerve-wrecking.

He could feel Kidman looking at him, trying to figure out his question, trying to figure out his motive.

And he swore there was almost this hesitation before she answered.

"Yeah, I told you that because that's the truth," Kidman reaffirmed, and the once easy look on her face hardened under the questioning. "We've jumped through these hoops before, why are you asking me this?"

Defensive, but it wasn't uncommon for Kidman to get that way if someone kept pressing her.

And to be fair, he and Sebastian had hounded her with questions about the church before- and technically they still did from time to time. Given that they had walked in on the aftermath, they were obviously curious and concerned about what had happened. But given that Kidman had lived through it, it was obvious that she didn't want to face the trauma all over again by giving them answers.

She wasn't wrong by not answering them; she was just trying to protect herself.

Either way, it was a subtle clue for him to back off if he didn't have a reason.

"Sorry, I know it's not something you want to talk about, I just... When I passed out before I had this nightmare, or this vision, or something, I don't know what to call it," Joseph started, unsure of how else to go about it. "I saw myself as one of those things again and you were there and..."

He couldn't go through the explanation again; he didn't want to keep thinking back on it.

"I don't know if it was real or not. I don't have any recollections of it before but it feels like it was real. I saw myself give you some of those injuries and you said some things back at the church that implied something I didn't remember. I just- I want to make sure that if that had happened, if I did something like that, that you would tell me. It's- it's a lot to ask, I know, but I don't want to be left second-guessing like this."

There was the slight press of her lips, as though Kidman wanted to say something but thought better of it. And while Joseph wanted to know what her initial response was, he figured if she decided not to go through with it, it was for good reason.

Instead, Kidman moved to grab his right arm, and even though it was unharmed from the explosion, she still seemed careful with how her fingers tangled in his sleeve.

"This wasn't you," Kidman assured, straight and to the point with that. "Whatever attacked me back at the church wasn't a Haunted. And I know... I wasn't exactly stable when you two found me, and I know I might've said some weird shit, but... you were never there. Up until that point, I hadn't even seen you since the asylum."

Kidman was hardly one for words and she was hardly someone who fucked around when it came to giving an answer.

She told it as it was.

Which was a reassuring factor in this case.

"Okay," Joseph nodded, allowing himself to breathe a little easier now. "Thanks. I just... I didn't know what I would do if-"

"You're fine," she interrupted, spearing his remark before he could finish. "Now, is your arm alright?"

A quick dismissal, but considering that the topic at hand involved whatever had happened back at the church, Joseph wasn't all that surprised that Kidman didn't want to stick to the conversation. It left him feeling a little cut off but... he had gotten the answers that he wanted and there was nothing he could but believe that Kidman was being honest with him.

And up to now, he had no reason to distrust her.

"It's fine as far as I can tell, thanks," Joseph offered, just barely lifting the bandaged arm to show her- only to have Kidman take it in her grasp once more. He kept his hand closed, although it did little to hide the mess of dark veins that were now sprawled across the back of his hand. It was almost shameful how exposed he felt with the veins as prominent as they were. "You wouldn't happen to know where my gloves are, would you?"

Kidman glanced up at the question, looking away from where she seemed to be examining the handcrafted bandage. "Yeah, I got them," she replied, as she tugged something loose from her back pocket before she held it out to him- revealing it to be the gloves in question. "Funny enough, you handed these to me just before you passed out."

"Did I?" he questioned, surprised by the odd request he would've made- especially in the eyes of passing out.

Perhaps he had handed the gloves off so that they wouldn't be lost or get left behind while he was being tended to. Which was odd, maybe almost funny considering the situation at hand. How odd to see where his priorities lied in that moment.

Joseph took the gloves as they were offered and carefully slipped them back on.

His left hand was a bit of a struggle considering the bandages, not to mention the lingering pain, but despite declining Kidman's offer to help, the glove eventually went on.

And despite everything going on around him, Joseph had to admit that it was almost foolish how much he despised the tearing in the glove- all thanks to a projectile nail. He had had the gloves for a couple of years now and they hardly looked like they had even been worn; he was careful with keeping them conditioned, with maintaining the upkeep. But this place was certainly putting them through the ringer now. They were dirty and the leather was starting to crack from the different environments and conditions they had fought through.

Regardless though, the fitted compression on his hands was comforting to have again.

"Bad circulation," Joseph spoke, offering up the answer without prompt; he knew Kidman wanted to ask- everyone always wanted to know. "I don't know what rumors or theories you've heard around the office, but I can assure you it's not really so extravagant. My hands get cold easily and the compression helps regulate the blood flow. That's it."

"Yeah, that's pretty stupid compared to what I've heard," Kidman remarked. "But I already checked and you have all your fingers, so there goes half the theories that I'm aware of."

"Thanks for letting me know."

Kidman offered a brief smile in response, clearly finding amusement in his sarcastic reply.

Joseph tugged on his gloves to ensure they were fitting correctly; the left one was obviously tighter but there was nothing he could do about it. The gloves might've helped to hide the veins across his hands but... there was little he could do about his right forearm that was still exposed. But as much as he wanted to hide the veins, to hide the ongoing decay, he knew it was better if he didn't; they were a warning sign that needed to be seen.

And it seemed as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Joseph felt Kidman brush her fingers against the same arm. He felt her fingertips trace the dark veins under his skin, following them down to his wrist before she pulled her hand away. Kidman said nothing about them and he was thankful for that. Joseph didn't know what she knew about the Haunted, or their process of turning, or how it mirrored itself on his skin.

But for now, she wasn't asking questions and she wasn't looking for an answer.

Which was enough for him.

"Are you alright?" Joseph asked, with hopes to break the silence he felt he had inadvertently created. When Kidman shot him a questioning look, he clarified. "Sorry, uh Sebastian told me about the brain incident earlier. He said you got sick."

Kidman replied with a frown. "Yeah, I... I'm better. The needle thing caught us all off-guard and to be frank, I had been battling with nausea for awhile, so that was just the final push for it. Can't say that I feel fine but I'm definitely better than how I was before."

"That's how it usually goes unfortunately," he nodded. "So... what exactly happened after that? We apparently talked but I don't remember anything other than white noise just before I passed out."

"Well, after Sebastian put the needle in wrong, I headed back so I wouldn't end up puking on myself- and also to check if you were okay," Kidman started. "I figured since you weren't with us when it happened than you would be unaffected. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. You were barely holding it together when I got there. I asked if you were alright and you said no. Then you handed me your gloves and point blank told me that you were going to pass out- which you did. I can't say that it helped ease the shock any, but I managed to keep you from hitting the floor- for the most part anyways."

That answered some, but mostly irrelevant things.

But irrelevant things he still wanted to know.

"You should get back inside," Kidman offered. "You look like shit."

Joseph couldn't reprimand her for that- he knew well enough that he did.

He felt the same way too.

"This rain certainly isn't helping you either," she tagged on.

He had to admit that he had been so focused on himself, so focused on Kidman that he had completely forgotten about the rain to begin with. He didn't even notice how it had dampened the white of his shirt and had turned it semi-transparent against his skin. It still had the same sticky feeling to it- maybe an affect of the humidity in the air.

Regardless though, it was still better out here than inside.

"It's fine, I just... I need the fresh air," Joseph assured. "Give me five more minutes and I'll meet with you back inside."

"I'll just wait."

"You don't have to-"

"Well I am," Kidman interrupted, before loosely adding, "you're not the only one who needs fresh air."

Joseph wasn't quite convinced that that was her main argument here, but he didn't have the energy to push her on it. And there was no reason for him to either; if she wanted to stay, he had no control or authority to tell her otherwise. At this point, they were all tired, and they were all done playing these little mind games everywhere they went.

Besides, fresh air would do them all some good.

"Any reason Sebastian hasn't come out yet?" Joseph asked, taking note of the Lead Detective's absence. He figured Sebastian would've came out with Kidman given that she was the one he went looking for. And while Kidman mentioned something about running past him, Sebastian would've caught up with them by now- at the very least just to keep an eye on them.

But so far there was no sighting of the other man.

And Joseph couldn't say that Sebastian's absence was sitting well with him.

"Knowing him, he's probably taking the time to de-stress," Kidman replied. "In the past three hours he's almost died, he heard us almost get blown to pieces, and then he was worried sick looking for you- and then there was that needle in the brain incident as well. He probably just wants some time to himself now- probably smoking a few in the main hall."

"Haven't we done enough to anger the memories here?" Joseph remarked.

"Not quite enough I don't think."


	10. Fade In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am three weeks behind on this update, super sorry about that!
> 
> Uh, long story short, went through some really weird shit, got in a fight with my boss and quit my job. It was a long time coming and I knew it was inevitable- it just happened a lot sooner than I thought it would. And a lot sooner than I would've liked. But it was a pretty toxic environment and he was a shitty guy and in the end, I'm the one who matters most to me.
> 
> Anyways, things were a little stressful there, so I apologize if this chapter isn't quite up to par- although somehow it still managed to turn out longer than I would've liked it to be.
> 
> Thanks for sticking around and hopefully I can get things up and running smoothly again soon!

The two of them were halfway to being soaked by the time the five minutes had passed- give or take at least.

The rain must've been coming down a lot harder than Joseph thought it was.

He and Kidman should've taken advantage of the dry standing room the front door canopy provided, but the idea of it never really crossed his mind. Given how bad the weather in Krimson City always was, the two of them had just gotten used to standing in the rain; hell, Joseph himself had just stopped noticing it all together by now. And at this point, they had dealt with plenty of cases that had required them to be outside in the rain, getting soaking wet, while they just stood around being miserable- watching as all of their evidence washed away.

So this really wasn't much different compared to what they were already used to.

At the same time, Joseph had been too focused on just trying to clear his head and trying to forget about the scenario that they would soon have to continue forward on. The same scenario that was driving him further and further into madness it felt like, offering him no chance to breathe between hauntings.

Given the matching silence from Kidman, he could only presume that she must've been trying to do the same.

Trying to forget about the matters that had harmed them.

And trying to focus on the up-coming matters that would no doubt only hurt them further.

The quiet stillness between them was both fitting yet awkward.

It felt like there were things that needed to be said, things that should've been pushed for further discussion, for further debate between them but... Joseph knew that he didn't exactly have the mentality to deal with those things right now.

And given the silence and the odd serenity around them, it didn't feel like this was the place to do it either.

It didn't help that every time Joseph looked over at Kidman for too long, all he could see was that nightmare playing itself over and over again in his head. It didn't help that he could still feel the curve of her throat against his palm; that he could still feel the raking of her fingers against his face.

And maybe it was his own paranoia, but Joseph swore the few times he caught Kidman looking back at him, it was like she seemed to understand what he had told her about before; it was like she seemed to understand what he was seeing even now. And every now and again, there almost seemed to be this catch of fear in her eyes just before she blinked and looked away.

It was crazy and part of him was still convinced that it was all still real, but...

_No._

Joseph would take Kidman's word on what she had said; he wouldn't doubt anything that she had assured him of.

She had no reason to lie to him- especially over something this serious.

So he had no reason to not believe her.

"Come on, we should head back inside," Joseph finally spoke, breaking the even silence between them. He didn't want to keep Sebastian waiting for them, especially since it seemed like the other man wouldn't be joining them outside. Joseph wouldn't doubt it if Sebastian just wanted some time to himself for a little while- Lord knows the man needed some breathing room. But at the same time, being separated from the Lead Detective was making him almost nervous.

So far nothing good had ever happened while they were separated.

And for some reason, they kept willingly separating themselves anyways.

It was almost like they _wanted_ to put themselves and each other in danger.

Joseph started to head back inside, wanting to get out of the rain, but he stopped when he felt Kidman grab his arm. The woman hadn't budged from where she was standing, which implied she didn't want him to move from where he had been either.

"You feeling better?" she asked, oddly quiet at that.

It was almost like she had been wanting to break the silence with the question but just couldn't bring herself to do it. Or maybe she had just been as preoccupied with her own thoughts and he had simply snapped her out of them- evidently prompting the question out of sparked concern instead.

"Hard to say," Joseph admitted, unsure of what other answer he could give her. "I still feel the same, but it's difficult to tell if it's good or bad at this point. And if it's good, I don't necessarily know just how long it's going to remain as such."

"Well, I can tell you that you seem to be acting more like yourself now," Kidman assured, or at least started to, "- considering that it's still hard to get a straight answer out of you."

While the remark was enough to get a short laugh out of him, Joseph wasn't looking to encourage the pointed jab- although even he had to admit that she wasn't without making a point. "Alright, alright, I feel... better, considering the obstacles," he spoke before adding himself, "- but I would feel better if we were inside."

Kidman seemed satisfied with his answer for now and followed his motion to head back in.

The stagnant air inside of the mansion was almost comforting now against his wet skin- and given how stuffy the air was, it wouldn't take long for the two of them to dry out either. But Joseph knew that it wouldn't be too long before the stagnant warmth wore out its welcome. Before the three of them were trying to ignore the heat and the beads of sweat on the backs of their necks.

Joseph watched as Kidman ran a hand through her hair and shook some of the rain water out of it; she then loosely brushed the same hand over the front of her shirt to smooth it out. If the woman cared at all about the mild-transparency of her shirt, she didn't show it. Then again, Kidman didn't really care much about it even after the water tank trap.

Of course, there had been more important things to worry about at that time.

(There was always something more important to worry about in this place.)

"You two done getting soaked outside?" Sebastian questioned, as the man pushed himself up from where he had been seated on one of the staircases. There was no doubt that Sebastian was still trying to wrap his head around everything they had just gone through in the past two hours.

"We're fine," Joseph replied, watching as the Lead Detective dropped his half-finished cigarette to the floor and crushed it underfoot.

Again, Joseph couldn't help but remember that they were walking on thin ice around here enough as it was to begin with- and that was before they had somehow managed to piss off this Ruvik guy. He really didn't want to go around pushing his luck with doing anything else out of line. At least, nothing more so than what they were already doing.

And going through Ruvik's personal home seemed to be enough of a death wish on its own.

Looking past Sebastian, Joseph looked once more to the single remaining capsule on the door before them, taking a longer look at it this time. On one hand, it was a relief to know that they were finally making progress in this nightmare world; it was a relief to know that they only had one brain puzzle left to do before they could finally leave this part of the mansion behind them.

And yet, on the other hand, it was frustrating to know that there was only one capsule standing in their way. It was frustrating to know that there weren't that many rooms left, or any at all that they hadn't already checked over before.

And even then, once they had all the puzzles done and all the capsules filled... they had no idea what would be behind that iron door.

They had no idea about what could be waiting for them on the other side.

"Alright, well do we have any other leads from here?" Joseph asked, although he was certain that he already knew the answer.

"Nothing that we haven't already figured out," Sebastian answered, before he gestured to the door behind him. "It looks like the remaining cable runs into the right wing, but we checked it earlier and it was a dead end. That's not to say that we didn't miss something along the way, which wouldn't surprise me; it wasn't like we knew what the hell we were supposed to be doing when we got here."

"Sounds like we're going to have to backtrack then," Kidman remarked, looking less than thrilled about the implication. "And considering that the second brain thing was found inside of a fireplace, I'm not exactly liking our odds of just how deep we'll have to look this place over again."

At least knowing that they were obviously missing something was something that they could all agree on.

But like Sebastian had mentioned, their earlier investigation of this place didn't have them looking for anything specific. It had taken them awhile to figure out that there were pipes connected to the capsules to begin with- especially given that they had stumbled across the first brain puzzle by pure accident. And even then, with the second capsule, Joseph recalled the pipe only leading through the library before it disappeared.

So even with the given hints and clues in front of them, the answers weren't exactly straight forward.

Thankfully, in their line of work, answers very rarely were- which meant they were prepared regardless.

"Wait, there was one of those brain things in a fireplace?" Joseph questioned.

"It was a hidden tunnel designed to look like a fireplace," Sebastian explained.

"How'd you figure that out?"

"That's not important, let's just focus on what's ahead of us."

Some questions were best left unanswered, but given the subtle chuckle Kidman gave in response to the cut answer, Joseph would've loved to hear Sebastian's train of deduction in finding the hidden tunnel. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, after all the man had managed to find the second piece of this fucked up cerebral puzzle.

"Alright, well let's start with following that pipe again; we've had to have overlooked something," Joseph spoke.

As often as he was the one who usually suggested it, Joseph hated the idea of having to backtrack; he preferred that they'd keep moving forward at all costs. But in a situation like this, it was unfortunately necessary. And in a way, backtracking would be pushing them forward- at least, Joseph had to keep telling himself that. If doing this would help them find the final piece to this agonizing puzzle and get them out of this mansion, than so be it.

Maybe there really was something that they had missed before.

Wordlessly, the three of them headed through the door to their right, the one settled just behind the staircase.

The room on the other side had to have been fashioned as some sort of lounge room, maybe an entertainment room given the open space and furniture in it. There were plenty of well-preserved, antique chairs to go around; hell, they almost filled up the room just on their own. But with the chairs came the surrounding of expensive-looking decor that filled every available corner and nook. There were massive, gold-plated vases that nearly matched his own height- almost shadowing Joseph in the dim light of the room.

Given how empty the rest of the mansion looked, especially the domestic wing, it was sort of odd that this room seemed to have been left largely untouched.

As though whoever had gone through and gutted this place had somehow managed to overlook it.

There was one visible doorway in the far back corner of the room and a hallway next to it that only lead back to a smaller, more secluded area. Joseph already knew that the corner door only opened to another, abet smaller room- one that had yielded one of those Haunted creatures in it earlier. Other than the creature however, there was little else in there but old damaged furniture that had been stored away, potentially as garbage.

"Maybe it's under one of the couches," Kidman remarked next to him.

And her tone was a mix of sarcasm and exhaustion.

A hint that this bullshit was tiring for everyone.

"Knock yourself out then, Kidman," Sebastian replied.

"There's another fireplace you can search while you're waiting, Detective."

Joseph felt compelled to ignore the ongoing conversation, choosing to not get involved should the two decide they didn't like the shared sarcasm between them. Instead, he crossed the room and started down the hallway; his eyes were following the visible pipe as it ran along the wall above him. They had tracked it before but given the dead-end of the room, they didn't put much thought into it; they had been more concerned with clearing and securing the area before doing any proper investigation.

And considering the dead silence of the mansion now, it was as clear and secure as it was going to get.

The back room was furnished only with the abandoned strings of a decent-looking cello and with the ruins of a former grand piano- which was another odd expense that seemed to have been left untouched by scavengers.

On the far wall in front of him was a massive painting Joseph recalled seeing twice already now; the only difference this time was that the painting was now in one complete piece. It was a portrait of some kind of guillotine scene with a crowd of faceless men above overlooking the execution. The same painting had been in the main room just above the staircases, but that one had had the upper half of it ripped off- showing only the victim at the bottom. It had also been in the library on the second floor; with that one, the lower half had been removed, showing only the judges above it.

Each half portion of the picture had come with an accompanying dial, which had offered them no answer as to where the dials actually went. They definitely went to some sort of combination lock, but they had yet to come across anything like that in here.

Joseph wished that seeing the painting in one piece would make all of it make sense to him but... it didn't.

The execution portrayal only made his neck itch instead.

It made him question further just what kind of people had lived in this mansion before all of this occurred.

Who in their right mind would want a painting like that hanging up in three separate places?

Other than the instruments and the odd execution portrait, there was little else that stuck out to him. The room was littered with trash, debris, and with plenty of discarded picture frames; whoever's or whatever's portraits that had once been in them were now gone.

So where did that leave them?

What did that leave them with?

Unless there was some kind of hidden room or hidden compartment somewhere in here that was triggered by playing a melody on the piano, they were once more fresh out of luck.

(No one here had the skills or experience to play a piano correctly.)

It didn't help that half of the ivory keys appeared to have been broken in some way or another, so using them would be useless to try and do anyways.

It didn't leave them with much else.

The broken windows around the hanging portrait let in the white hue of the moonlight outside, casting thin streaks of light across the walls and floorboards- as if the room wasn't feeling ominous enough. And yet, as fitting as the mood it set was, the light only made Joseph question just what time of day it was in here. It had been early afternoon at the church and overcast when they had initially landed at the mansion- and yet now, it was pitch dark out through the windows.

But he and Kidman were just outside and it had only been dim because of overcast.

Were there day and night cycles to this place then?

And were they stuck somewhere in-between the two?

The white pool of light on the floorboards caught the glimmer of red sunken into the damaged wood. And it was enough to catch his eye, enough to catch his attention as he slowly followed the red trail to the odd, blood-stained portrait positioned on the wall in the far corner of the room.

... Joseph couldn't recall that being there before.

Maybe they had missed it during their initial investigation, but he didn't think so.

They definitely would've noticed something like that.

Joseph slowly moved towards the bloodied portrait, weary of the blood that still appeared to be trickling down from underneath its frame. It trickled down and pooled against the floorboards, spilling out into a puddle of red. It must've been bleeding for awhile now given how the floorboards creaked and bowed underfoot; there was some hesitation in questioning whether or not the flooring could still support his weight.

The portrait itself looked to have once been a sort of Victorian-era painting, much like how the rest of the portraits in this mansion were.

The only exception was that this one was missing its head, which was instead replaced with the face of a safe.

A safe that all too closely resembled that box-headed creature in the catacombs.

The blood alone was making him uneasy, not to mention the smell that came with it, but the memories of that impenetrable creature only made this whole experience feel worse.

And that was when Joseph noticed something carved on the wall space next to it. It looked like someone had taken a knife to the wall, cutting lines and shapes into the wallpaper, cutting down to the sheet rock. But when he ran his fingers over the mess, he confirmed that each cut wasn't just a random slice; each one was intentional, almost as though it was spelling something.

So it wasn't like someone had come to this mansion before them and had tried to pry the safe out of the wall, or had attacked the wall out of frustration. It seemed like they had left a message behind- maybe a clue to this whole thing.

The only issue with the carvings was that he couldn't read them.

It felt like his eyes were still trying to adjust; they still ached even with the faint light coming in through the window.

The carvings came to him as blurred, muddled shapes- and he wasn't exactly up on his braille.

Great.

This was the perfect time for his failing eyesight to make itself apparent.

"You alright back here?"

Joseph glanced up at the call and watched as Kidman emerged from the hallway, no doubt coming to see where he had gone off to. And he supposed he should've announced where he was going in the first place. It was this lack of communication that was going to get them hurt or killed.

"Yeah, just trying to figure something out," Joseph assured, watching as Kidman moved towards the piano and carefully ran her fingers over the exposed keys. The woman wiped them off on her jeans a few seconds later however. "Hey, can you see if you can read this? I think... someone scratched something into the wall over here."

"Think so?" Kidman replied, as she started towards him- only to slow down slightly as soon as she caught sight of what exactly he was looking at. And Joseph figured that she saw the safe and had made the same connection to that creature in the catacombs as he had. "Was this thing always here?" she questioned, as she moved in next to him.

Alright, so he wasn't the only one who hadn't noticed it.

"I guess," he offered with a partial shrug. "I didn't see it when we came through here before."

Kidman didn't seem to like the answer but she turned her attention to the carvings he pointed out to her instead. She reached forward and ran her fingers over the carved words. "'Two worlds, separated by a jagged chasm. Above, faceless spectators, mocking the tragedy. Below, helpless victims, losing everything.'"

That was... not something Joseph was expecting.

He was hoping maybe it was something a little more straightforward.

Like an actual code or something and not just another riddle.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Kidman whispered, mirroring his sentiments exactly. "And why is there one of these safes here? I thought we left those things behind us."

Yeah, Joseph thought they had.

It was one thing to see the safes just simply scattered around in the catacombs but...

It had been another thing to see them acting as a head on a body.

"There was that document we found in the catacombs that said Ruvik had started the habit of locking his research away in these safes, right?" Joseph started, as he reached out and touched the front of the exposed safe. Under his fingers, he felt where there were two indentations, implying that something was missing. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that every safe needed combination dials. "I don't know where he was conducting his research, but I think we can safely assume that there must be something he locked behind here."

Not that he was all that encouraged to find out what it might be.

But even if there was something locked behind this safe, it wouldn't be what they were looking for.

The dimensions of the safe were too small to fit the last of the brain things they were after.

And that was the _only_ thing that they needed right now.

More than likely, there would just be some kind of key behind the safe- which would only put them on another wild chase.

Joseph reached into his vest pocket and fished out the dial he had gotten from the library, glad now that he had decided to take it after all. Aligning it correctly, he placed it into the top indentation and watched as it slipped right in.

Maybe their luck hadn't completely run out just yet.

Although something told him that this was just the easy part of it.

"Hey Sebastian," Joseph called, stepping away from the safe to see where the man had gone off to. Once more, he hadn't been aware that the Lead Detective wasn't even with them- not that they were far off from each other. And Sebastian was usually quiet anyways, so Joseph had just assumed that the man had followed up behind Kidman when she came through. Regardless, he didn't have to wait long before Sebastian emerged from the hallway. "Do you still have that other dial we found earlier?"

"Yeah, why? You find a place for it?" Sebastian questioned, as he pulled the other dial from his pocket and tossed it without further prompt.

Luckily, Joseph managed to catch it- otherwise he would've had to fish it out of the blood pool at his feet. Turning back to the safe, he inserted the second dial into the remaining indentation and watched as it snapped in perfectly.

Okay, first part down, they had the dials in place.

Now they just needed a combination.

"We got the numbers for this thing?" Kidman questioned.

"Uh, not exactly," Joseph admitted. "This is as far as I thought off the top of my head- and I feel like we got pretty lucky with it as is." He stepped away and turned back towards the painting once more. "The combination has to have something to do with this painting though. We've found each dial with a corresponding piece of it nearby. What was it that that message said? 'Above, faceless spectators; below, helpless victims?'"

"I hate this place."

"Eleven executioners, two victims," Sebastian spoke, ignoring Kidman's remark, as he stepped up to the painting- although he looked less than interested in it. "Try that."

Eleven and two.

Sounded easy enough.

Joseph carefully set each dial to the respective numbers; eleven for the top dial, two for the bottom one. There was this feeling in his gut that had him instinctively moving away from the safe as soon as he set the dial to two. He had no idea what was going to be unveiled when the safe opened, but something told him to be prepared for anything regardless of the safe's size.

No sooner had Joseph heard the successful click of the safe unlocking, the door of it burst open in a violent spewing of blood and chucks- all of which he just barely managed to avoid by side-stepping away from it.

And again, it reminded him of the creature in the catacombs.

It reminded him of the disgusting crackling of its neck as the creature twisted its own head again and again until it broke and fell away- only to allow it to teleport to the next safe. Only to allow the box-headed thing to regenerate itself again and again and again.

(Joseph half-expected to see the same kaleidoscope effect flash in front of his eyes.)

There was a subtle pop followed by a low creak as the portion of the wall that the safe was connected to broke away and slowly swung inward- revealing a pitch-black passage on the other side.

Just the sight of it made his hair stand on end and Joseph felt himself reflexively grab Kidman by the arm, as though to assure himself that he wasn't alone, that the world itself hadn't shifted around him.

He felt Kidman return the gesture.

"Well this keeps getting better and better," Sebastian remarked as he stepped forward, one hand tugging loose the lantern at his hip. "Doesn't look like it goes too far down."

"Did you know this thing was here?" Kidman asked.

"Yeah, saw it earlier when we came through- didn't really think anything of it," he answered. "It's not exactly the strangest thing-"

Sebastian was cut off as the sound of the door in the other room being kicked open echoed down the hallway to them. The three of them froze in place, unsure exactly of what they had heard; they decided to wait and bid their time. It didn't take long before they heard the all too familiar sound of incoherent grunts and shouts coming from the next room however.

Christ, how many more of those creatures were in this place?

Before Joseph could completely comprehend what was going on, or what they were going to do about it, he felt Sebastian push the lantern into his hands.

"You two figure this out, I'll take care of them," Sebastian spoke, before he slowly made his way across the room towards the narrow hallway.

As much as they were trying to avoid combat at this point, there was little place for them to run and hide in this area. And despite how quiet they could try to be, it wouldn't be long before the Haunted came down here to investigate- and that wasn't to say that the creatures didn't already know about their presence here to begin with.

In which case, they would want someone to serve as a buffer.

Still, Joseph didn't like it when combat forced them apart.

"Alright, I'll stay posted here then," Kidman remarked, and then added, "- as your back-up."

Joseph was pretty certain that she was just being sarcastic again but decided to play it safe. "Thanks," he replied, as he carefully switched the lantern on and slowly raised it as he stepped towards the dark hallway. Despite, or perhaps because of everything they had gone through before this point, he really didn't want to be the one going in first.

The corridor was tight and it felt like it was just barely wide enough for him to squeeze through- not without touching the walls anyways. The light of the lantern caught specks of red on the walls and when Joseph moved forward to investigate, he found more of the same bloodied portraits lined down the hallway. Each one armed with the same safe as the one he had just opened.

There were six safes in total- seven counting the one they had just solved.

Which only made Joseph question just how many times had this secret wall been opened before.

And by who exactly.

And why.

Leading with the lantern, Joseph caught the shadow of a familiar pattern in front of him. "There's a door at the end of this," he called back to Kidman, as he stepped cautiously through the blood-soaked corridor. Each of the portraits had bled out apparently, pooling blood that was now old yet still sticky through the tight hallway. Once more, he heard the creaking and felt the bowing of the floorboards underneath him with each step, which did little to assure him that he actually wanted to see what was behind this door.

It didn't help that holding the lantern in one hand made it too difficult for him to carry his gun.

He could've risked doing so for his own safety, but he wasn't exactly the best at one-handed shots; he preferred the stability and accuracy of a two-hand hold. And while technically it was better than nothing, Joseph preferred safety over all else. Shooting wildly in this tight space would only heighten the risk of the bullet hitting him instead.

And he'd really prefer to avoid getting shot at all costs.

As tight as the hallway felt, and even with the sticky blood underfoot, he felt more confident with the idea of running rather than fighting.

Holding his breath, both out of anticipation and because of the overwhelming smell of rancid blood, Joseph approached the door and carefully moved one hand forward to push it open. His fingers barely grazed the door before he heard the familiar popping of gunshots lost somewhere behind him.

Right. Sebastian was taking care of their Haunted problem.

The gunshots sounded different but Joseph blamed it on the odd echo this hallway was catching.

Pushing against the door, Joseph felt it almost swing open on its own- leading him to believe that it had been open this entire time. Or perhaps that something was on the other side pulling it open for him.

As soon as the door was opened, a florescent light bled out into the dark hallway, flooding the small space and blinding him almost immediately. Joseph turned away, using his free arm to shield his face as pain seared through his eyes at the same time.

Always with the _fucking light_.

It wasn't like before though.

The pain only lingered for a few seconds before it died off, before it felt like his eyes weren't melting back into his sockets.

Joseph was able to recover quick enough, but the subtle ache behind his eyes continued to linger on.

Blinking a few times to ease the blurriness out of his vision, Joseph turned back to see what exactly had been revealed by the door.

And he found himself staring at the back of an exposed brain.

The third and final piece to the puzzle.

Joseph took a second to focus on what he was seeing, feeling a mix of relief and disgust at looking at it. Going around looking for exposed brains wasn't exactly something he ever saw himself having to do, but right now this brain was the one thing they were looking for. It was the one thing they were actually hoping to find, as fucked up as it sounded.

He reluctantly stepped into the room, knowing that he had to ensure that this was the last piece they needed. He had to ensure that this wasn't some kind of trap, that the brain wasn't some kind of decoy of some sorts- which was something that would not surprise him in the least bit. He wouldn't be surprised if Ruvik kept a collection of brains in this place, more than just the three they had found.

Joseph just barely passed the threshold before he caught sight of something white, of something transparent flickering into view just inches in front of him. He barely got a chance to register what he was seeing before the thing moved towards him, before it passed straight through him like it was some kind of ghost- like some kind of apparition maybe.

And almost immediately, Joseph felt his blood go cold in his veins before a hot pain spilled itself from his abdomen.

The room around him went completely still and he was overcome with this odd, sort of out of body feeling; he retained all of his senses but he couldn't move- in fact, it was almost like his entire body was numb. Joseph couldn't feel the weight of the lantern in his hand anymore, but there was enough control, enough fluid consciousness remaining to not drop it.

All he could do was stand there and listen to how the dead silence of the room was punctured by the distant sound of screaming.

And it didn't take long for him to recognize it as his own.

It sounded like it was behind him but all he could do was look forward.

Joseph knew he wasn't screaming, not as himself, but it didn't make the sound get any quieter- in fact it just got louder and louder, echoing down the hallway behind him now, getting to the point that it almost sounded distorted.

And as it grew louder, the pain in his stomach grew with it.

He watched as lights and colors flickered in front of his eyes, morphing the room around him until there were images playing out in front of him. It felt like he was back in that nightmare world, that auditorium, hearing the projector click on, hearing the whirring of a film was it came to life- projecting itself onto the flat wall against the back of the room.

And Joseph could see, he could _feel_ cold steel slicing him down the middle- cutting him from sternum to stomach.

His blood was red; it was hot as it pushed up through the cleanly split skin and spilled out, flooding and pooling out against the flat surface underneath him. He didn't know where he was, the flickering images in front of him showed nothing; but Joseph could feel the cold against his skin, he could smell something that burned in his throat and bloodied the inside of his lungs.

(It only made the screaming feel worse.)

The steel cut deeper, penetrating down through muscle, slicing through the protective membrane wall guarding his intestines.

And it didn't take long before his entrails spilled out in response, pushing up and through the broken skin- unrolling and unraveling all around him.

The blood was still fresh, still warm; there was steam practically coming off of it, providing the only sense of heat against the cold.

...

In an instant, it was over.

It wasn't a conscious decision; it wasn't over because he wanted it to be, because he _needed_ it to be.

It was the persistent ache behind his eyes, the twitching of his eyelids as they desperately needed to, and eventually did, blink. The partial second of darkness was almost a relief, a comfort to have, before his eyes opened again.

And this time it was just him.

It was just him, still in this hidden room, with only an exposed brain for company.

But the echoing pain in his gut persisted.

The stinging cold still crawled over his skin, the blood still bubbled in his lungs.

Joseph didn't even realize that he had dropped the lantern as he stumbled back out of the room, desperate to escape the images before they found him again. He turned and ran out of the short hallway- just barely pushing by Kidman as he did so. He barely made it a few extra steps out before he felt the pain in his stomach trigger an all too familiar sensation, and he felt himself vomit in the back corner of the room.

His head was ringing all over again as the burning acidic taste of bile remained stuck in his mouth.

"Jesus, are you okay?" he heard Kidman question somewhere behind him.

Taking a few staggered breaths to calm himself, to get his breath back, Joseph tried to straighten himself up- trying to ignore the lingering ache that was splitting his stomach apart. It felt like he had been stabbed, like he had actually been gutted like an autopsy patient. The images were stuck in his head, completely vivid and crystal clear. It played over and over again, like some kind of fucked up old-time medical documentary.

And that was kind of how it looked, how it played.

Flickering images on a reel, stuttering through the pictures like a makeshift video.

Joseph never actually saw himself but somehow he knew; he knew he was the one getting cut open.

And he knew he was completely conscious, fully awake and alert while it was happening.

It wasn't an autopsy, but a vivisection.

Christ, what the _fuck_ was wrong with him?

Why did he keep seeing this shit?

"Joseph..."

The sound of Kidman's quiet voice pulled him back, breaking him out of what felt like the start of either a mental or emotional breakdown. He had to pull himself together, he had to keep himself together. This wasn't just about him; they were all stuck here, they were all going through the same shit. A team was only as strong as its weaker member, and he couldn't let himself bring them down.

"I'm fine," Joseph whispered, hearing his own hoarse response echo in his head. "I just- _Christ_ , I don't know what came over me."

He ran the back of his hand across his mouth, evading the question of why the acidic burn on his tongue now tasted metallic. And he tried to ignore the painful pulling in his wrist, in his fingers- the irritating wriggling of veins underneath his skin.

(It was getting worse.)

"... Did you just puke up blood?"

By the time the question came up, Joseph had already caught sight of the blood smeared on his hand- the second time in the same hour now. And as much as he wanted to deny it, to avoid it, he could see the mess of blood splattered on the floorboards below. And it wasn't watery and thin like blood should be; it was thick, almost like a gel, almost like a thin paste.

He could understand why there was a metallic taste in his mouth now.

But why?

It didn't make sense.

Why would he suddenly vomit blood?

He hadn't suffered any internal damages in that explosion; it had been too small and it had lacked the power to actually do anything. And even if, by sheer chance of bad luck, it had ruptured something internally, it would've shown up sooner than now. There would've been more clues, more evidence that something had been ruptured, or bruised, or that something had burst open inside of him.

But that vision, those images he had seen- the pain he had experienced.

A psychological effect maybe...

Which seemed all the more fitting for this place.

"I'm fine," Joseph repeated, unsure of what else to say. "It's just... it's a side effect."

He didn't go into an explanation and given Kidman's silence, she didn't ask for one- or perhaps just didn't want one. At this point, he wasn't certain if he was lying to her or not. He had no logical reason for the blood or its relation to his Haunted psyche... but there was a strong possibility that it was true. His constant feelings of dread, his constant feelings of despair would easily be enough to make it worse.

He had coughed up blood back in the church courtyards before so puking up blood didn't seem all that farfetched.

Joseph felt the touch of Kidman's hand against his back and he hated the fact that he was putting her in this position.

"You two alright?" Sebastian's voice called out to them, interrupting the moment.

It occurred to Joseph then that he hadn't heard any other gunshots asides from the initial one. He knew Sebastian was a good shot, but sometimes even a good shot wasn't enough to take one of those creatures down.

"Yeah, we're good," Joseph interjected before Kidman could, although he wasn't certain if she would say anything. Better safe though. "It's uh, it's the third brain, believe it or not," he continued. "I don't know why it's back there of all places but be careful. I don't know how long it's been back there or what's being used to keep it alive, but it's basically been fermenting."

" _Great_."

Straightening himself up once more, Joseph watched as the Lead Detective moved towards the corridor and stopped at the threshold of it. And it was all too easy to see the quick look of disgust on his face.

"Christ, I can smell it from here."

"I warned you," Joseph offered.

"Did you take care of those Haunted?" Kidman asked. "Sounded like a lot of gunfire."

Sebastian took a step away from the door, clearly needing the fresh air before he would inevitably go through to the end room. "Yeah, they're dead, but one of them had a gun- so that's going to be something we'll need to look out for. Had a few of them shoot at me back at that village but they were pretty shit shots. The one back there though got pretty close, so we'll have to make sure not to underestimate them- especially in close quarters."

Even if they were a shit shot, in close quarters a bad shot could still hit.

"Alright, well let's get this over with."

"Here, since I missed the last puzzle, I'll help with this one," Joseph offered, as he started to follow after Sebastian who had already started down the short hallway. He noticed Kidman follow after him and thought nothing of it- up until he felt her stop him at the previously-hidden doorway.

"Are you sure..." Kidman started and she didn't need to finish the thought for him to understand.

"It'll pass," he assured. "This will be a quick in, quick out sort of deal- hopefully anyways."

"Yeah, hopefully," she seemed to note, sarcastically at that; a quick recovery. "Mind the head."

Joseph chuckled at the subtle jab before he continued after Sebastian, noting that the man was in the process of re-hooking the lantern at his hip once more. He would be lying if he didn't admit that he was holding his breath the entire short walk- more out of anxiety rather than smell. He tried to convince himself that so far nothing in this place had a habit of repeating itself. Everything traumatic had happened once and then it seemingly hoped that they would learn their lesson enough off of that.

And maybe he should've taken heed.

Maybe he should've taken the easy way out and let Kidman assist Sebastian with the puzzle instead.

But Joseph already felt like a burden on the team as it was; he needed to start pulling his own weight again.

The room at the end was just barely big enough to fit the two of them, which lead to questions of how Ruvik could have gotten this brain device back here in the first place. The two managed to make the tight space work though, which was just another thing they had gotten used to back at the office; the evidence room was like the smallest room in the department and yet everyone always needed to be in there.

Joseph barely listened to the audio tape, which sounded almost amplified now in the small room. He tried to ignore the pitied screaming in the background; he tried to ignore the calm voice that casually spoke over it. All he needed to do was just listen to the tape long enough to hear what they needed to hear.

_C-4 Hope._

And just like with the first puzzle, there was an accompanying hand-drawn diagram amongst the mess scattered across the desk.

And Hope was highlighted in the yellow-stained portion on the map of the human brain.

Sebastian pulled the needle loose and moved it with an awkward sort of hand coordination. It was clear that the man still didn't enjoy this part of the puzzle and really never would- and honestly, who would asides from Ruvik? But this was the last piece, the last brain, and that was all that mattered to Sebastian at the moment. This was the last thing they needed and then they'd be free of this place.

The diagram wasn't exact in terms of specific details, but Joseph could pick out enough scribbled-in curves and shapes to pinpoint where the area was. He couldn't guarantee that it was a hundred percent accurate but he didn't think it would guarantee a punishment either.

He watched as the needle went in and held his breath, anticipating the searing pain in his head again.

But the needle set in without a hitch.

And there was almost a sense of sick relief in watching as the needle slid in and began draining the red fluid from the machine- pumping it out to the remaining capsule on the door.

The last lock that they needed.

"What did the second brain need?" Joseph questioned, absentmindedly. He wasn't sure why he wanted to know or what good the knowledge would do for him but for some reason the question was sticking to him. Each of these brains had been put out with only one part of them serving any purpose. Even Ruvik himself stated in each audio tape that the lobes had been handpicked for research, for experimentation. And while the thought alone was disturbing, it wasn't like they could wash their hands of their own involvement.

"Fear," Sebastian answered, as he stepped back from the machine, looking more than relieved to be done with this mess. "Which, there's plenty of it to go around."

Each capsule, each lock had needed a specific key, and specific point on the human brain.

_Consent._

_Fear._

_Hope._

With their luck and their lives on the line, hopefully those targeted areas were only there to serve as keys for a door. Hopefully there would be no connection between them as a team and those specific attributes.

Joseph stepped back and turned to exit out the hallway, hearing Sebastian follow up behind him. Despite not knowing what would lie ahead of them, he was just glad to have this ordeal over with. It would take something incredibly fucked up to pass the insanity of having to hunt down three exposed brains. Not that he wanted to jinx them- after all, he wouldn't be surprised if something further down the road did manage to one-up this ordeal.

For now, he was just glad to be out of the hallway, to be away from that blood.

(The memories persisted though.)

"Well I didn't feel any pain this time, so are you guys done?" Kidman questioned at the doorway outside.

"Let it go, Kidman."

"We're finished here for now," Joseph interjected, hoping to cut their sarcastic banter for the time being. He found himself wiping his hands off on his pants; despite not physically touching the brain himself it still felt like his gloves were slimy nonetheless. "I guess now we can finally see what we're getting ourselves into with this place. I don't have high hopes that that door is going to lead us anywhere safe."

That much was a given.

But on the other side of the coin, Dr. Jimenez must've known what lied beyond the other side- otherwise he wouldn't have rushed to it. That wasn't a concrete guarantee though. But if the door did lead somewhere, and if that somewhere was even a fraction as dangerous as this mansion was, why would he pull Leslie into it? Joseph didn't exactly hold the man in high regards in terms of being a doctor- not that he really knew who the man was to begin with. But if Dr. Jimenez had gone out of his way to keep Leslie with him this whole time, rather than leaving him behind as dead weight, than the doctor had to feel some kind of responsibility to his patient.

That was how it was supposed to work, right?

"So we're just getting started here, is that what you're saying?" Kidman remarked.

And it was difficult to tell if it was spoken out of annoyance or sarcasm.

The two seemed to be one in the same as of late.

Then again, it was a sentiment that they were all sharing.

At least in the catacombs it physically felt like they were constantly moving forward.

But here, they had been stuck in the same place for hours.

"Yeah," Sebastian non-nonchalantly replied, much to Kidman's amusement it seemed. "Let's just go make sure that that door actually opened and that there's not some hidden fourth piece that goes along with it."

Joseph hadn't considered that option but now that the thought was out there, he was was dreading the possibility. They had found one brain in a fireplace and another locked behind a hidden wall; they were out of options for where a fourth one would be. Or at least, out of sane options. The only other option would be to go room by room and physically tear the whole mansion apart.

"Good idea," Joseph offered, before the three of them made their way back towards the front lobby. If they could just keep moving forward, he could keep leaving some of these memories, some of these experiences behind them. It was the easiest way to forget what was happening to him- the easiest way to forget all the shit he had and was still going through.

They made it down the corridor and into the entertaining room, which was now decorated with the discarded bodies of two Haunted. And true to Sebastian's word, one of the Haunted had a rusted looking pistol in hand. Joseph didn't get a good look at it, and he didn't really want to, but the gun didn't appear to be of any brand he recognized.

So just where had the Haunted found the gun to begin with?

Although he guessed he shouldn't be surprised- apparently there were weapons scattered sporadically around this place. Either having been brought in with someone or maybe having been left here or made here in some way. It was hard to figure out.

And some of the weapons weren't exactly up to modern specs.

Given the crossbow that Sebastian liked to keep strung across his back.

They barely made it to the door leading out into the lobby before Joseph heard it.

The high-pitched ringing sound again.


End file.
